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Killer whale migration shows New Zealand-Antarctic ecological link: research

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Killer whales, also known as orca, are roaming thousands of km from Antarctic waters to areas off the far north of New Zealand, according to research from New Zealand and Italian scientists out Friday.

A team of New Zealand government and university scientists studying the killer whales in the Ross Sea during the 2014-2015 Antarctic summer found them to be Type-C, meaning they preferred fish prey, including Antarctic toothfish.

"We wanted to determine whether a decline in the toothfish fishery in the Ross Sea poses a risk to Type-C killer whales, including finding out how many there are in the Ross Sea and where they feed," said team leader Dr. Regina Eisert, of Canterbury University's Gateway Antarctica research institute.

At the same time, Italian whale experts deployed satellite transmitters on killer whales in Terra Nova Bay to determine the whales' movements.

The two teams independently verified that Type-C killer whales were commuting between Antarctica's Scott Base and the waters off Northland in New Zealand, Eisert said in a statement.

The New Zealand team discovered that the same female Type-C killer whale, identified by its unique markings, had been photographed repeatedly in New Zealand and in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.

The Italian satellite data also showed the whales swam due north towards New Zealand.

"If Antarctic killer whales roam all the way from Scott Base to the North Island of New Zealand, rather than stay in a relatively confined area as some scientists believe, it crucially changes our understanding of the ecology of these key top predators and the potential threats they may face," she said.

"The whales' long commute would also suggest that there is much greater ecological connectivity between Antarctica and New Zealand than previously thought." Endi