Revised Age Estimates for Northern Resident Killer Whales (<i>Orcinus orca</i>) Based on Observed Life-History Events and Demographic Discounting.

ABSTRACT: Long-term field studies have been invaluable in the study of ecology and evolution; however, for particularly long-lived species, even long-term studies often rely on estimated ages, for example when investigating demographic processes. One approach is to estimate unknown birth dates from the known timing of other life-history events. Building on previous methods, we update estimation techniques for Northern Resident killer whales (NRKW; Orcinus orca) as part of an ongoing long-term study that began in 1973. Despite almost 50 years of observation, many individuals were born before records began, and detailed understanding of NRKW life history relies on estimated ages. Our age estimation approach incorporates new data from photo-identification surveys into a framework that relies on

SUBMITTER: Bateman AW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11890658 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature