Yes, killer whales do live in Alaska. In fact, killer whales can be found in all of the world’s major oceans, from the Arctic and Antarctic waters to various tropical regions located in and around the equator. However, these marine mammals tend to prefer living in higher latitude environments.
The location of these marine mammals is often determined by the habitat and range of their food. The type of food killer whales consume is often dependent on the killer whales’ location and which foods inhibit the local area.
For example, killer whales that live in areas rich in sea lions, walruses, penguins, and seals may consume these marine mammals as the primary source of their diet. In contrast, killer whales that thrive in fish, squid, and octopus-rich environments may consume fish, squid, and octopus as their primary food source.
Note: To capture their food, killer whales often hunt in groups and work together to trap their prey into a corner or tight ball where it cannot escape. Individual members of the group will then take turns swimming through the prey and pick them off one at a time.
In addition to living throughout many of the worlds, major oceans killer whales can be found living in coastal and offshore environments. In fact, some killer whales are known to primarily inhabit coastal waters near the shoreline, while others choose to live further out to sea, far away from the coastal waters.
Coastal and offshore killer whales can be broken down into three different pods known as resident, transient, and offshore pods. Resident pods are often found living in coastal waters throughout the year and can be found consuming fish and squid as their primary diet. On the other hand, transient pods consistently change their environment, and their diet is primarily based on consuming marine mammals.
As the name suggests, offshore pods are located far from the coastline offshore environments. Offshore pods primarily consume fish and hunt and eat other marine mammals. Regardless of the type of pod a killer whale belongs to, these marine mammals maintain extremely close family bonds. As many as four generations can be seen living together in a single pod.
A pod can easily consist of a child, its parents, grandparents, and friends, and they rarely separate except to hunt for food or mate. When one pod member makes a successful kill, it shares its meal with other family and friends, and when one pod member is in danger, other members of the family will help out. The close social structure of these marine mammals makes them one of the most successful hunters around.
In terms of migration, killer whales typically migrate to areas where their food supply migrates, which can be caused by changes in certain species’ current or seasonal migration patterns. In fact, migrating for food is generally more important than migrating for mating purposes.
Mating and reproducing can occur at any time of the year for these marine mammals. Female killer whales have an average gestation period of around 15 – 18 months and are known to give birth to a single child once every 3 – 5 years. A healthy female can live for up to 80 years, while healthy males live closer to 50 years.