• Largest member of the dolphin family
• Found in all seas from the equator to the polar ice
• Top predator in the sea, diet extends to several hundred known species. Feeds also on dolphins and whales including blue whales
• A social whale that lives in pods or families
• Males have a distinctive triangular dorsal fin of up to 1,9 metres. Females fin is smaller and bends backwards
• Two types: transients that roam the seas and feed mostly on marine mammals and residents that stay in families for life and only feed on fish. These groups never mix. Icelandic orcas are mostly residents
• Females only give birth to 4-6 calves in their lifetime
• Pods are matriarchal (female dominated) and the calves will probably stay within their natal pod
• Can breach, spyhop, lobtail and ‘log’ at the surface
• Fastest of any whales, can reach the speed of 50 km per hour

Háhyrningur, schwertwal, orque épaulard, spackhuggare, miekkavalas, orca