Killer Whale
The killer whale is one of the top predators of the sea. It's scientific name is the Orcinus Orca. Their habitat is normally in all open oceans but most abundant in coastal areas and even more abundant in the Arctic and Antarctic Ocean. Females become sexually mature around 15 years of age and males 15 to 21. Many males become aggressive when trying to win females over, when they do the females will have one pup every five years in what is called a Polyestrous cycle. Killer Whales are the world's largest distributed cetacean species in the world.
3 Interesting Facts:
1.) They can grow up to as large as a school bus.
2.) They have 40-50 teeth that are up to four or five inches long.
3.) They live in families called "pods" with up to 40 other Killer Whales.
http://voices.yahoo.com/20-interesting-facts-killer-whales-5554625.html, http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/killerwhale.htm
The problems that face Killer Whales are declining fish populations such as Salmon that are 90% of an Orcas diet (Salmon are over fished and losing their habitats), toxic exposure from human pollution, and surface impact (ships colliding with the Orcas and polluting the sea with exhaust).
Lastly, I chose the Killer Whale because I think they're fierce but beautiful creatures and wanted to learn more about them.
http://www.whalemuseum.org/education/library/issues.html
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