This new edition of this best-selling book presents updated results ofover twenty-five years of killer whale research in British Columbia andWashington. Intended for both whale enthusiasts and researchers, itcontains the latest information on killer whale natural history andpresents a catalogue of close to 300 photographs of"resident" killer whales as well as a genealogical registrythat enables readers to identify individual killer whales and theirfamily groups. The technique of photographing the dorsal fin and greysaddle patch of whales has revolutionized the study of killer whales,allowing researchers to follow individuals over the course of manyyears.

In this book, the editors present a view of the socioecology of primates and cetaceans in a comparative perspective to elucidate the social evolution of highly intellectual mammals in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Despite obvious differences in morphology and eco-physiology, there are many cases of comparable, sometimes strikingly similar patterns of sociobehavioral complexity. A number of long-term field studies have accumulated a substantial amount of data on the life history of various taxa, foraging ecology, social and sexual relationships, demography, and various patterns of behavior: from dynamic fission–fusion to long-term stable societies; from male-bonded to bisexually bonded to matrilineal groups. Primatologists and cetologists have come together to provide four evolutionary themes: (1) social complexity and behavioral plasticity, (2) life history strategies and social evolution, (3) the interface between behavior, demography, and conservation, and (4) selected topics in comparative behavior. These comparisons of taxa that are evolutionarily distant but live in comparable complex sociocognitive environments boost our appreciation of their sophisticated mammalian societies and can advance our understanding of the ecological factors that have shaped their social evolution. This knowledge also facilitates a better understanding of the day-to-day challenges these animals face in the human-dominated world and may improve the capacity and effectiveness of our conservation efforts.

Killer whales are found in all oceans of the world, but nowhere are they better known than in the coastal waters of Washington, British Columbia, and Southeastern Alaska, where 25 years of study have yielded many surprising discoveries about their natural history. One of the most remarkable is that two genetically distinct forms of killer whales reside in these waters. The two groups of whales do not associate and each leads a completely different lifestyle. Residents specialize in a diet of salmon and other fish, while transients are hunters of seals, sea lions, porpoises, and even large whales. Enigmatic and elusive, these mammal-hunting whales travel in small groups, often moving unpredictably. Transients contains the latest information on the natural history of transient killer whales, including their feeding habits, social lives, and distribution patterns. It also includes photographs of and notes on over 200 individual whales. Numerous sidebars contain interesting observations on encounters with transients as well as information on how and where to best watch them.