Page 83 - World of Animals - Book of Sharks & Ocean Predators
P. 83
Killer whales
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What’s in a name?
The name ‘orca’ comes from the whale’s
Latin name ‘Orcinus orca’, but many
people know the orca as the ‘killer
whale’. The orca’s stealthy hunting tactics
alongside its large appetite certainly
contributes to this name! The Spanish
sometimes refer to the orcas as ‘ballena
asesina’, meaning ‘assassin whale’ and
it’s thought that whalers named orcas
‘whale killers’ when they witnessed them
hunting other whale species. ‘Killer whale’
seems to have been adopted over time.
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