KILLER WHALES OF SOUTHEASTERN KAMCHATKA AND THE COMMANDER ISLANDS: DYNAMICS OF OCCURRENCE AND MOVEMENT BETWEEN AREAS

The patterns of habitat use by fish-eating killer whales often differ between regions, which could be caused by varying ecological features of these regions. The dynamics of the presence of killer whales in Avacha Gulf and Commander Islands aquatic areas, as well as the degree of individual whale residency in each area and the frequency of matches between areas are compared. The patterns of habitat use in these two areas differed in many ways. The number of animals identified in Avacha Gulf was lower, but the degree of residency was higher than that in the Commander Islands area. The results of modeling showed that at each moment, more killer whales were found near the Commander islands than in Avacha Gulf, but the duration of their stay was shorter, and the periods between visits were longer. Probably, Avacha Gulf is an important feeding area for some local killer whale groups, while the Commander Islands area may be a crossing place for killer whale routes to and from different feeding or other areas.