by Kevin Schofield

This weekend’s read is a pair of reports about our friendly neighborhood resident orcas, often referred to as “killer whales.” Orcas are known to swim the waters of all the oceans of the world, but there are at least nine different subgroups (called “ecotypes” by scientists) that frequent specific geographic areas and have specific differences in body shape, behavior, and diet. More recently, scientists have also documented differences in DNA across the ecotypes, which has led to questions about whether any of the orca ecotypes are actually their own subspecies — or a separate species altogether. The first of this weekend’s two papers, by researchers at the National Marine Fisheries Service, the University of British Columbia, and Oregon State University, looks at whether the two ecotypes that frequent Puget Sound should be classified as separate subspecies or species.