Most often, they find food through 'echolocation'. This is where they produce a noise, and wait for the echo to bounce back, helping them to locate their prey. Breeding Killer whales do not usually breed until they are about 15 years old, and females tend to stop breeding when they are about 40. A young killer whale is called a calf, and when born, is already one-third the size of its mother. They can grow to weigh between 2.5 and 9 tonnes.
Females tend to live longer than males.
The killer whale inhabits oceans and seas all around the world - from the icy glaciers of Alaska to our own UK waters. They like cold water, and we cannot predict how the effects of global warming might impact upon these mammals. There is still relatively little known about the killer whale, and plenty more research is needed to learn about the behaviour and distribution of this mammal.