Shortage of Food Killing Whales in Puget Sound

The killer whale population continues to decline as the two new deaths were reported this year in Punget Sound.

According to the survey by the Center for Whale Research the number of whales in J,K and L pods have reduced to 78. The authorities have not recorded this level since 1985. The report brings out an extremely astonishing thing that the whales are breaking their pods which is their significant social group.

Ken Balcomb of the research center has been examining the Puget Sound orcas since 1976. Every year Balcomb accumulates a census of the population and present it to the federal government.

Previously, in the summer season all three pods of orcas have come together in the San Juan Islands. In these months whales usually socialize in the much larger groups. However,the pods begin to split into smaller groups., staying together now and them.

Furthermore, Balcomb stated that researchers have observed a peculiar association pattern in two members of a pod with two members of the other pods. It exhibits that they frequently stay miles apart without any contact with their own group. Researchers are unable to give names to the pods since they are no longer connected with each other in the similar pattern.

The offspring of the killer whales likely to live with their mother for the entire life.

Balcomb proposed that the chief reason behind this population decline is shortage of food for the killer whale. The killer whales usually prey on Chinook salmon when they cross the San Juan Islands on their way back to Canda’s Fraser river. They also eat other species of salmon and fish.

Bio
Latest Posts

Karen Jackson

Karen Jackson has always been passionate about technology. All the way through high-school she immersed herself in computers and web-design. Her ambitious nature helped her become a pro in Adobe Photoshop only by watching online videos and working with the program herself. This is also the program that she mostly uses in the creation of websites at her work-place. Technological innovation and gadgets that push the boundaries of what we are comfortable with have always fascinated her, so expect to see some weird gadget reviews coming from her.