Reported Causes of Death of Captive Killer Whales (Orcinus orca)

• Main Author: Ridgway, Sam H.
• Other Authors: NAVAL OCEAN SYSTEMS CENTER SAN DIEGO CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1979
• Subjects: Biology; Medicine and Medical Research; *ETIOLOGY; *MORTALITY RATE; *EPIDEMIOLOGY; *AUTOPSY; *WHALES; *GROWTH(PHYSIOLOGY); REPRINTS; RUPTURE; SURVEYS; MALES; FUNGUS DISEASES; BODY WEIGHT; FEMALES; INFLUENZA; ABSCESSES; NORTH AMERICA; AORTA; SALMONELLOSIS; CEREBRUM; HEMORRHAGE; PNEUMONIA; ULCERS; VETERINARY DISEASES; NEPHRITIS; STROKES(CEREBRAL); *KILLER WHALES; *CAUSE OF DEATH; *GROWTH RATE; CAPTIVE WHALES; CAPTIVITY; ZOO ANIMALS; GENDER DIFFERENCES; PYOMETRA; CHEDIAK HIGASHI SYNDROME; FUNGUS INFECTIONS; MEDIASTINAL DISEASES; RUPTURED AORTA; CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGES; PERFORATED ULCERS; OCEANARIA; Orca; Orcinus orca
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA436136; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA436136

Inquiries were made of the six major oceanaria in North America that maintain killer whales to determine sex, date of capture or acquisition, length and weight at acquisition, date of death, length and weight at death or the nearest recorded figures to March 1978, and cause of death. Causes of death determined at necropsy included mediastinal abscesses, pyometra, pneumonia, influenza, salmonellosis, nephritis, Chediak-Higashi syndrome, fungus infection, ruptured aorta, cerebral hemorrhage, and a perforated post-pyloric ulcer. Captive females appear to have a higher mortality rate than males. Growth rates for whales that died were greater than for those that survived. Pub. in Journal of Wildlife Diseases, v15 n1, p99-104, Jan 1979.