People call orcas killer whales. But the orca is really the largest member of the dolphin family. Orcas are black and white, and that helps hide them in the water. An orca has a white patch near each eye. It can grow to about 32 feet long.

Orcas live in every ocean in the world. They live in cold seas near the poles and in warm tropical seas. Orcas live in pods. A pod is a few to 20 or more whales that are related to each other. Each pod has its own sounds.

A pod hunts as a team. Orcas eat fish, squid, seabirds and seals. They click and listen for the echoes to find things in the water. An orca can swim about 35 miles an hour. Few animals hunt orcas. So orcas are called apex predators.

A mother orca has one calf at a time. She is pregnant for 15 to 18 months. The calf drinks its mother's milk. Male orcas live about 30 years on average, and some reach at least 60.

Words to know

• pod: an orca family
• calf: a baby orca
• echoes: bounced sounds
• apex: at the top