A Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, stranded on a beach on Sanday in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, has been successfully returned to the sea by volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue. The Whale was spotted by members of the public on a beach in the Bay of Newark on Monday 4 January 2020, who called the local coordinator for the group. On arrival the Animal was found to be a juvenile about 3.4 m in length, and probably a male (although the volunteers concentrated on rescuing the Animal rather than determining its sex). The Whale, which was on its side, was righted to enable it to breath better, and refloated on the incoming tide. The Whale is thought to have been about 3-4 years old, at which age it would no longer be depemdant on its mother, and a member of the North Isles 27s Pod, which is commonly seen in the area.
Killer Whales are the largest members of the Dolphin Family, Delphinidae, and have a global distribution. They are highly inteligent and adaptable Animals, able to take a wide range of prey, with different populations often specialising in hunting different prey items. It is possible that Killer Whales are a cluster of cryptic species (species which appear identical but which are genetically distinct and reproductively isolated) rather than a true biological species (single global population with all members potentially able reproduce with one-another), which makes their conservation status difficult to assess. Killer Whales are thriving in some areas, but in others are threatened by Human activities, such as heavy shipping, fishing, and offshore drilling. This means that if the species is in fact a species cluster, then the populations of each biological species might be quite small and potentially threatened.
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