Whisper
April 25th, 2010, 04:46 PM
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/2944517.bin?size=620x400
A threatened population of killer whales that spends much of the year hunting seals off the British Columbia coast has been identified by an international team of scientists as a distinct species, separated from its fellow orcas in Canada and elsewhere about 700,000 years ago.
The whales, known as the North Pacific Transients, have long been understood to have a different prey preference than their fish-eating cousins, as well as subtle physical anomalies, such as a more pointed dorsal fin.
But a genetic study involving 16 American and Danish scientists, led by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, has concluded that the estimated population of about 300 individual North Pacific Transients is globally unique -- an animal with sufficient DNA differences from its closest relatives around the world that it should be classified as a stand-alone species.
If the proposal is backed by the broader scientific community, the tiny population of whales off the Pacific Coast would essentially become Canada's scarcest species -- with fewer numbers than either the endangered North Atlantic right whale or the whooping crane, both of which have between 300 and 400 individuals.
"It's a very exciting story," said John Ford, a University of B.C. killer-whale expert and federal fisheries scientist. "We've suspected this for many years but just haven't had the strength of evidence that this study has provided."
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/2944579.bin?size=620x400
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Distinct+species+orca+identified+coast/2946425/story.html
A threatened population of killer whales that spends much of the year hunting seals off the British Columbia coast has been identified by an international team of scientists as a distinct species, separated from its fellow orcas in Canada and elsewhere about 700,000 years ago.
The whales, known as the North Pacific Transients, have long been understood to have a different prey preference than their fish-eating cousins, as well as subtle physical anomalies, such as a more pointed dorsal fin.
But a genetic study involving 16 American and Danish scientists, led by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, has concluded that the estimated population of about 300 individual North Pacific Transients is globally unique -- an animal with sufficient DNA differences from its closest relatives around the world that it should be classified as a stand-alone species.
If the proposal is backed by the broader scientific community, the tiny population of whales off the Pacific Coast would essentially become Canada's scarcest species -- with fewer numbers than either the endangered North Atlantic right whale or the whooping crane, both of which have between 300 and 400 individuals.
"It's a very exciting story," said John Ford, a University of B.C. killer-whale expert and federal fisheries scientist. "We've suspected this for many years but just haven't had the strength of evidence that this study has provided."
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/2944579.bin?size=620x400
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Distinct+species+orca+identified+coast/2946425/story.html