Killer whales live in groups called pods. A pod is made up of related whales of both sexes and all ages and usually have from 5 to 30 members. The groups travels together, hunts cooperatively, and takes care of its members.
Sometimes two or more pods may join up into a herd of 50 to 100 whales. After a while, the herd breaks up into the same pods as before.
A mature female killer whale is the dominant whale in a pod. She gets and stays that way through a variety of behaviours--ramming and biting other whales, snapping or popping her jaws, and splashing with her flukes or flippers.
This information is derived primarily from Puget Sound research and may not be true everywhere.
