~Killer whale~

~Killer whale~ By: Natalie Espino -7th Hour Biology

ORGANISM:

COMMON NAME: Killer Whale

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Orcinus Orca

DESCRIPTION:

Largest member of the dolphin family. Has long rounded bodies with large rounded fins, at the middle of backs they have black bodies and have white spots underneath on their belly and under their eyes.

CLASSIFICATION:

KINGDOM ~ Animal
PHYLUM~ Chordate
CLASS~ Mammal
ORDER~ Even toed unglates
FAMILY~ Oceanic dolphin
GENUS~ Orcinus
SPECIES~ Killer Whales

HABITAT DESCRIPTION: They are found in the open ocean & in coastal waters, mostly found in the pacific northwest, Atlantic (Norway) & higher up in the southern ocean.

Geologic time: they where first evolved from the baleen whales and it has been about and estimated time of 35~40 million years ago

MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR EVIDENCE:

THE KILLER WHALE IS RELATED TO THE DOLPHIN AND HAS MANY SIMILARITIES WITH THE HIPPO AND THE WALRUS (but there are still researches happening that the whale has not been decided to be related with many other animals such as the hippos because it is an arguable fact and right now there are statements that relatives to whales are false facts)

The killer whales and dolphins: Dolphins and killer whales are both part/found in the same family category. they both marine mammals they both have the same simplicity in their structures but can have differences in their ways of living such as what they eat so they are more structurally related then custom related. They both locate for fresh air by using their blowholes on the top of their heads but can also be seen through other whales such as a melon headed whale and other whales or sea mammals that fall in its category of the orcinus.

VESTIGIAL STRUCTURE:

The vestigial structure in a whale is the pelvic bone. There are still studies being shown if the pelvic is actually necessary for the whales because they can still perform important roles in the body. Such as, pelvic bones can play a part in protecting sexual organs of the whales. The pelvic bones are argued to be as a vestigial part of the whale because they are there as hips and are too help walk but whales do not have the capability to do so.

HOMOLOGOUS STRUCTURE whales share a homologous structure with wolfs. They have similarities with their bone structure in their jaw bone, the fin of the whale and the foot/leg of the wolf have similarities,

wolf .......... whale

whale...........................................................................................................wolf

TRANSITIONAL FOSSILS

"The evidence that whales descended from terrestrial mammals is here divided into nine independent parts: paleontological, morphological, molecular biological, vestigial, embryological, geochemical, paleoenvironmental, paleobiogeographical, and chronological" (http://www.talkorigins.org/features/whales/ ).

As stated before it is hard for evidence of whales to be found and is still being researched upon.

CITATIONS

http://www.talkorigins.org/features/whales/

http://us.whales.org/wdc-in-action/facts-about-orcas

https://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/09/whales_hips_ano/

https://ncse.com/cej/3/4/true-vestigial-structures-whales-dolphins

https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal.../killer-whale/scientific-classification

www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Wolves-sea-Killer-whales-COW-Orcas-surprising-relatives-la…

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by Christopher.Michel - "orcas & humpbacks" • mikakaptur - "dolphin nature marine" • skeeze - "killer whales orcas breaching"

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