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The killer whales that roam the waters of the Monterey Submarine Canyon, off the coast of California, are brutal animals.
在加利福尼亚州海岸附近的蒙特利海底峡谷水域中漫步的虎鲸是一种残忍的动物。
When hunting grey whales, they target mother and calf pairs, chasing them until the calves begin to tire.
虎鲸在捕猎灰鲸时会瞄准母鲸和幼鲸，追逐它们直到幼鲸开始疲倦。
At that point the killer whales separate the grey whales by manoeuvring between them or dragging the calves away by their tail flukes or fins.
此时，虎鲸会在灰鲸之间移动或抓住幼鲸的尾鳍将幼鲸拖走，从而将它们分开。
Once a calf is separated from its mother, the killer whales incapacitate it by bludgeoning it with their heads and tails before drowning it by leaping atop its blowhole to keep it below the surface.
一旦幼鲸与母亲分离，虎鲸就会用头和尾猛烈攻击，使其失去行动能力，然后跳到幼鲸头顶的呼吸孔上，按在水面以下，将其淹死。
The killer whale (Orcinus orca) is a diverse species, boasting several isolated populations around the world that occupy varying—and, in several cases, still little described—ecological niches.
虎鲸是一个多样化的物种，在世界各地拥有多个独立的种群，它们占据着不同的生态位，包括一些鲜有记录的生态位。
Two recent studies have shed some light on the unique hunting cultures of the killer whales that stalk the deep waters off the north-east Pacific Ocean.
最近的两项研究揭示了东北太平洋深水区虎鲸独特的狩猎文化。
Distinct killer whale populations are known as "ecotypes" and can differ in size, colour and body proportion.
不同的虎鲸种群被称为“生态型”，其大小、颜色和身体比例可能有所不同。
Where their ecological ranges overlap, ecotypes rarely interact and do not appear to interbreed.
在生态幅度重叠的地方，生态型很少相互作用，似乎也不会杂交。
Most of what makes killer-whale ecotypes distinct is their culture—socially learned behaviours that killer whales are known to transmit from one generation to the next.
虎鲸生态型的独特之处在于它们的文化：众所周知，虎鲸会将社会习得行为代代相传。
These include preferences for different marine prey species and the collaborative strategies used to locate, hunt and kill them, potentially honed over millennia.
这些行为包括对不同海洋猎物物种的偏好，以及用于定位、狩猎和杀死猎物的协作策略，这些策略可能经过数千年的磨练。
Different killer-whale ecotypes even communicate using distinct "dialects" made of clicks, whistles and calls, with "accents" that differ between pods.
不同的虎鲸生态型甚至使用由滴答声、口哨声和叫声组成的不同“方言”进行交流，不同群体之间的“口音”也不同。
The most studied killer-whale ecotypes are the three that occupy the north-east Pacific coastline, from northern Alaska to southern California.
研究最多的虎鲸生态型是占据东北太平洋海岸线（从阿拉斯加北部到加利福尼亚南部）的三种虎鲸生态型。
"Offshore" killer whales, up to 6.6 metres long, patrol distant waters in pods of 100 to 200 individuals, hunting pelagic fishes like sharks.
“远洋鲸”长达6.6米，以100至200头的群体在遥远水域巡逻，捕食鲨鱼等中上层鱼类。
"Resident" killer whales, around 7 metres in length, stalk the coastline in pods of up to 25 individuals, targeting coastal fishes (primarily salmon).
“居留鲸”长约7米，成群结队地在海岸线游荡，数量多达25头，以沿海鱼类（主要是鲑鱼）为食。
Finally, “transient” killer whales, each up to 8 metres in length, are found across both shallow and deep coastal waters and pursue marine mammals, including cetaceans (whales and dolphins), as well as pinnipeds (sea lions and seals).
“过客鲸”的长度可达8米，分布在沿海浅水区和深水区，捕食海洋哺乳动物，包括鲸目动物（鲸鱼和海豚）以及鳍足类动物（海狮和海豹）。
While “inner-coast” transients stalk shallow waters near the shore, “outer-coast” transients hunt in the deep open waters along canyons at the edge of the continental shelf.
“内海岸”过客鲸在海岸附近的浅水区潜行，而“外海岸”过客鲸则在大陆架边缘峡谷沿岸的开阔水域中捕猎。
