#rp082

[thesaddlepatch]

From Captivity to the Wild and Back: An Attempt to Release Keiko the Killer Whale

Simon et al., Marine Mammal Science (2009)

Abstract: A number of cetaceans have been released into the wild, with research or the improved welfare of the individuals in question as the main goal. In a few cases, releases have been monitored with methods such as telemetry or photo-identification. As a rule, the animals released successfully into the wild had been captive for relatively short periods of time (e.g., 2 yr) were held in sea pens rather than concrete tanks, and some were released in the company of conspecifics. We describe here the last phases of a project aimed at releasing a single killer whale that had been captured as a calf, raised in tanks and kept isolated from conspecifics during most of his life.

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[thesaddlepatch]

A comparison of pigmentation features among North Atlantic killer whale populations

Makelainen et al., Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (2014)

Abstract: Here we present a comparison of saddle and eye patch patterns of killer whales from Norwegian, Icelandic, British, Spanish and Greenlandic waters. We found only a small amount of variation in saddle patch shapes, which may reflect a recent phylogenetic divergence from the most recent common ancestor. Eye patch shapes were more variable than saddle patches in small details. Most individuals had eye patches with parallel orientation, with the exception of a small group of killer whales from the Hebrides, which, as previously reported, had sloping eye patches that sloped downward at the posterior end. This differentiation in pigmentation patterns of the Hebridean killer whales from neighbouring populations could reflect one or more of several evolutionary processes, including a deeper phylogenetic divergence, low gene flow with other local populations and drift.

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