AnimalsThe orca, or killer whale, is the largest member of the dolphin family. Its black and white pattern is easy to recognise. Orcas live in close family pods and hunt together, and different pods have their own calls and hunting methods.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Orcinus orca
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Carnivore (eats other animals)
- Lives in
- All oceans
- Habitat
- Open sea and coasts
- A young one is called
- calf
- A group is called
- pod
- Conservation status
- Data Deficient
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Cetacea
- Family Delphinidae
- Genus Orcinus
- Species Orcinus orca
Other members of the family Delphinidae on this site: common bottlenose dolphin.
More distant relatives in the order Cetacea: blue whale, Ganges river dolphin, humpback whale.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The orca is listed as Data Deficient. There is not enough information to judge the risk to this species.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.