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Killer
Images coming soon.
- Length
- 20 feet.
- Description
- Size large, forehead flat, back-fin enormous (6 feet high in the male), flippers short and rounded. Colours black above and white below in strong contrast; the white extends upward on the sides in two stripes and there is a white spot above each eye and a purplish area behind the back fin. Teeth 10 to 13 in each jaw, large and sharp.
- Range
- Oceans, generally distributed.
The other members of the dolphin family are easy going, rather timid animals subsisting on fish and smaller marine animals, but in the killer we find all the fierce predatory characteristics of our carnivorous land animals or the sharks among the fishes. They kill and devour the blackfish and larger whales as well as seals and large fishes. Captain Scammon says: "The attack of these wolves of the ocean upon their gigantic prey may be likened to a pack of hounds holding the stricken deer at bay. They cluster about the animal's head, some of their number leaping over it, while others seize it by the lips and haul the bleeding monster under the water and, when captured, should the mouth be open they eat out the tongue."