. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. Science; Natural history; Natural history. Figure 4. Dorsal view of tlie Newporl kiiier vvliale. Plioiograph by W E Monahan, Marineland of the Pacific. been feeding on small fishes, rather than an expected diet of larger, usually warm-blooded, animals (see Nishiwaki and Handa, 1958: 92). The extreme wear of the teeth undoubtedly restricted the ani- mal in her diet, but did not prevent the successful ingestion of smaller kinds of food. At the time of her capture, it was felt that the animal had entered the relatively enclosed turning ba
. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. Science; Natural history; Natural history. Figure 4. Dorsal view of tlie Newporl kiiier vvliale. Plioiograph by W E Monahan, Marineland of the Pacific. been feeding on small fishes, rather than an expected diet of larger, usually warm-blooded, animals (see Nishiwaki and Handa, 1958: 92). The extreme wear of the teeth undoubtedly restricted the ani- mal in her diet, but did not prevent the successful ingestion of smaller kinds of food. At the time of her capture, it was felt that the animal had entered the relatively enclosed turning basin in quest of fishes. Also, because she was alone, instead of a member of a nor- mal hunting pack (Kellogg, 1940:71), the animal was forced into an abnormal feeding pattern as well as being restricted in her diet. Thus the animal, while still able to survive, had had to undergo a marked change of social status as well as a change in feeding behavior. All of the teeth in both sides in both jaws of the Newport speci- men were worn flat on their crowns, almost even with the gums. The teeth otherwise appeared to be healthy above the gum line, and not diseased as those in the examples cited by Ulmer (1941) and Tomes (1873). Without further comment, Eschricht (1866:172) and Slij- per (1962:273) indicated that such extreme wear was not uncom- mon in killer whales. The wear did not appear to be the result of a misaligned lower jaw, although the right ramus of the mandible had been fractured for some time near its anterior end (see results of necropsy, below). Such a break might have been the result of voracious feeding activ- ity at an earlier stage of life. The tooth wear, on the other hand, gave every indication of being normal as the jaws opposed each other in the expected manner, and the wear appeared to result from a grind- ing action permitted by the great freedom of movement by the jaws. A few of the teeth showed decay, but as this condition was lateral and below the retracted
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