Journal
POLAR BIOLOGY
Volume 34, Issue 7, Pages 1091-1096Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00300-010-0958-x
Keywords
Killer whales (Orcinus orca); Eastern Canadian Arctic; North Atlantic; Satellite telemetry
Categories
Funding
- Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP)
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)
- Nunavut Implementation Fund (NIF)
- International Governance Strategy (IGS)
- ArcticNet Centre of Excellence
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Killer whales (Orcinus orca) occur in the eastern Canadian Arctic during the open-water season, but their seasonal movements in Arctic waters and overall distribution are poorly understood. During August 2009, satellite transmitters were deployed onto two killer whales in Admiralty Inlet, Baffin Island, Canada. A whale tracked for 90 days remained in Admiralty and Prince Regent Inlets from mid-August until early October, when locations overlapped aggregations of marine mammal prey species. While in Admiralty and Prince Regent Inlets, the whale traveled 96.1 +/- A 45.3 km day(-1) (max 162.6 km day(-1)) and 120.1 +/- A 44.5 km day(-1) (max 192.7 km day(-1)), respectively. Increasing ice cover in Prince Regent Inlet in late September and early October was avoided, and the whale left the region prior to heavy ice formation. The whale traveled an average of 159.4 +/- A 44.8 km day(-1) (max 252.0 km day(-1)) along the east coast of Baffin Island and into the open North Atlantic by mid-November, covering over 5,400 km in approximately one month. This research marks the first time satellite telemetry has been used to study killer whale movements in the eastern Canadian Arctic and documents long-distance movement rarely observed in this species.
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