Killer Whale Predation on Sperm Whales: Observations and Implications

By R. Pitman, L. Ballance, Sarah Mesnick, Susan J. Chivers. 2001

160 citations recorded by the source corpus.

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/79f75b9af169e182cb6b57a2cd8ebf30b68fe1de

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Citations in the corpus

Multilevel Societies of Female Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Atlantic and Pacific: Why Are They So Different? (2012, background): “A social unit consists of ca. 10 females and immatures that travel together (up to ca. 100 km/d), care for and suckle each other’s offspring, and defend themselves communally (Christal et al. 1998; Gero et al. 2009; Ortega-Ortiz et al. 2011; Pitman et al. 2001; Whitehead 1996a).”
Interactions between Cetacean and Fisheries in the Southern Ocean (2006, background): “1996; Tilney and Purves 1999) and elsewhere (Silber et al. 1990; Jefferson et al. 1991; Yano and Dahlheim 1995; Pitman et al. 2001).”
Mapping world-wide distributions of marine mammal species using a relative environmental suitability (RES) model (2006, background): “Here, parameters other than those determining food availability may become important, such as predator avoidance (Corkeron & Connor 1999, Pitman et al. 2001).”
Behavioural drivers of the ecological roles and importance of marine mammals (2015, background): “In sperm whales, antipredator behaviours include rosette formation (or a ‘marguerite’, with heads together and tails out) to deter killer whales (Pitman et al. 2001, Whitehead 2003).”
A BALANCED MODEL OF THE FOOD WEB OF THE ROSS SEA, ANTARCTICA (2010, background): “Recent work has shown that three different types of orca may occur in the Ross Sea (Pitman et al., 2001; Pitman and Ensor, 2003; Pitman, 2003).”
Whale killers: Prevalence and ecological implications of killer whale predation on humpback whale calves off Western Australia (2015, background): “…reported to prey on nearly every species of “great whale” (i.e., baleen whales and the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus; Jefferson et al. 1991, Pitman et al. 2001, Reeves et al. 2006, Ford and Reeves 2008), but the extent to which they actually do prey on large whales (or did, see below),…”
Fight or flight: antipredator strategies of baleen whales (2008, background): “…are surrounded by adult whales, and groups of southern right whales may form a ‘rosette’, with heads towards the centre and tails facing the killer whales [a phenomenon first described by Nishiwaki (1962) based on observations of sperm whales under attack by whalers; also see Pitman et al. (2001)].”
KILLER APPETITES: ASSESSING THE ROLE OF PREDATORS IN ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES (2004, unknown): “…odontocetes represent an important component of the killer whale’s diet as evident from historical accounts (Scammon 1874), current behavioral observations (Goley and Straley 1994, George and Suydam 1998, Guinet et al. 2000, Pitman et al. 2001), and scarring patterns on great whales (Weller 2002).”