Whales are the largest mammals in the marine world and by far the best predators at sea. The name killer whale implies the threat they pose to life forms at sea. These mammals do not have the same choice for their diet all over. The kind of life forms they hunt largely depends on the location of the whales. By and large, they are found to hunt seals, fish, squids, sea turtles, birds, walruses, otters, penguins, moose, polar bears, reptiles and other cetaceans.

A fully grown whale has a dietary intake in weight of up to 3 to 4 percent of its own body weight each day. A growing calf can consume food which weighs almost 10 percent of its own body weight. Their relation with other life forms is opportunistic. They can swim beside the very animals which they hunt.

These are regarded by many as scavengers at sea. The predation of the whales on their own kind is uncommon. Presence of remains of whales in their stomach and their ability to scavenge dead animals at sea has made it a probability that killer whales also scavenge on remains of their own kind.

Studies conducted on the dietary intake of whales in different regions of the world have brought out interesting facts on their dietary preferences. Killer whales in the Antarctic consume fishes the most at approximately 67 percent. Marine mammals constitute approximately 27 percent, while squids are the least preferred at 6 percent.

Whales in the Bering Sea are believed to prefer fishes as well. Almost 65 percent of their preferred diet is comprised of fishes. Second on choice is squids at 20 percent and the least preferred diet is mammals in the sea at approximately 15 percent.

The resident killer whales are considered to prefer fishes over mammals while the vice-versa is true of the transient whales.

Similar to wolves or lions on land, killer whales also attack in a group. They corner the prey by attacking from different angles and force the prey in to a small area before rendering the final blow. Sometimes killer whales slide on to ice floes or sand bars while chasing their preys. They also break ice floes from underneath in order to get the prey in to the water.

Their teeth, which total up to forty to fifty-six in all, are conical in shape and fully interlocked. This enables them to take chunks of flesh of the prey and swallow them. These teeth are not used for chewing. In case of small sized preys, such as small walruses or seals, they can swallow them whole.

More Articles :

• Are Killer Whales Endangered ?
• Killer Whales Anatomy
• Life Cycle Of A Killer Whale
• Scientific Name For Killer Whale
• What Do Killer Whales Eat ?
• What Eats Killer Whales ?

Sea World: Diet and Eating Habits
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/killerwhale/dietkw.html