Killer whales have found new homes in the Arctic Ocean, potentially reshaping marine ecology

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are finding a new place to roam in the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean. Though Indigenous people in the region have seen the whales, also known as orcas, pop up sporadically for centuries, the predators now have more access to the chilly waters than ever before. Two distinct killer whale populations now claim habitats in the Arctic, according to a team led by researchers at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. But the whales’ presence raises conservation concerns that may be difficult to address, the team reported recently in Global Change Biology. Orcas follow a research vessel in Tremblay Sound, an inlet at Baffin Island, Canada. Photo credit: Fisheries and Oceans Canada Killer whales haven’t often been able to access the Arctic. Thick ice sheets posed a natural barrier, breaking their dorsal fin if they pushed too hard into it. But as the northern polar regions warm up faster than anywhere else on Earth, the ice melts, letting in more of the voracious predators. The researchers, led by evolutionary geneticist Colin Garroway of the University of Manitoba, were curious about the Arctic’s growing population of killer whales and their impacts. They decided to peek into the genomes of a few of the animals to find out where they came from. Initially, they used samples of blubber and skin collected over time by field biologists. “We did an analysis that’s something like 23AndMe,” said Garroway. The results: Two distinct populations of killer whales were sharing the Arctic…This article was originally published on Mongabay