Wild Orca News

wensleydale said:
One of the reasons that Monodontidae are said lack dorsal fins is to escape Killer Whales by going under ice, where dorsal fins are said to be a hindrance. If the Killer Whales don't have to contend with ice any more that is bad news for both members of the family. I wonder if it might impact their populations in addition to the recent changes in the conditions of the Arctic.
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Yeah, I'm wondering about the long-term effects. Apparently orcas are doing pretty well with these changes for now, but that might not be true in the future.
 
In months old news an Icelandic population Killer Whale not seen in 20 years has been sighted again. The implications of this sighting are significant, for example he is likely an older whale as he was already full grown when last sighted, also it is a reminder of how little we know about this particular population.

Icelandic Orcas: A whale not seen for 20 years!
 
wensleydale said:
In months old news an Icelandic population Killer Whale not seen in 20 years has been sighted again. The implications of this sighting are significant, for example he is likely an older whale as he was already full grown when last sighted, also it is a reminder of how little we know about this particular population.

Icelandic Orcas: A whale not seen for 20 years!
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So cool! I've heard about this kind of thing happening once in a while, with various species. I see it as a testament to how little we know about the ocean and its inhabitants. Like how they say we have better maps of the moon than of our ocean floor.
 
Yes, if I remember correctly there might be a joint Icelandic-Norwegian population, but we know even less about the Norwegian population than we do about the Icelandic one. I have a theory that the reason they couldn't find Keiko's immediate family was because they might have only been visitors to the area for reasons known only to them at the time of his capture, and that they really spent most of their time somewhere else.
 
wensleydale said:
Yes, if I remember correctly there might be a joint Icelandic-Norwegian population, but we know even less about the Norwegian population than we do about the Icelandic one. I have a theory that the reason they couldn't find Keiko's immediate family was because they might have only been visitors to the area for reasons known only to them at the time of his capture, and that they really spent most of their time somewhere else.
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Another orca fan I talk to did a lot of research and made like, this big fancy chart and paper suggesting the same thing. They also proposed that the reason Keiko swam to Norway might've been him attempting to follow some old migration route he followed before he was captured. (of course, these are just educated guesses, can't really attempt to confirm it without being able to go out and do research)

Only a couple of orca populations are really well-studied. There are some out in the Gulf of Mexico and it drives me absolutely nuts that we know so little about them. I swear, if I had a boat, I'd be out all the time looking for them, ha ha.
 
TheMightyOrca said:
Another orca fan I talk to did a lot of research and made like, this big fancy chart and paper suggesting the same thing. They also proposed that the reason Keiko swam to Norway might've been him attempting to follow some old migration route he followed before he was captured. (of course, these are just educated guesses, can't really attempt to confirm it without being able to go out and do research)

Only a couple of orca populations are really well-studied. There are some out in the Gulf of Mexico and it drives me absolutely nuts that we know so little about them. I swear, if I had a boat, I'd be out all the time looking for them, ha ha.
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I'm looking to get up to Newfoundland to try and get to see their Killer Whale population, however the E Pod has been sighted as far south as Cape Cod harassing Minke Whales and there was a sighting either in or near Stellwagen Bank (a whale hot spot) last summer. Mystic was trying to figure out where they were going and what they were up to. I might not have to go far after all if I keep my eyes open and play my cards right.
 
wensleydale said:
I'm looking to get up to Newfoundland to try and get to see their Killer Whale population, however the E Pod has been sighted as far south as Cape Cod harassing Minke Whales and there was a sighting either in or near Stellwagen Bank (a whale hot spot) last summer. Mystic was trying to figure out where they were going and what they were up to. I might not have to go far after all if I keep my eyes open and play my cards right.
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I'm hoping to go to Monterey Bay, California sometime in the next few years. I particularly want to go during a time of year when orcas will be coming by. (and I'll definitely stop by the aquarium while I'm there, ha ha)

Have you ever seen pictures of those orcas from the west coast of Scotland? They have these really distinct drooping eye patches (which are absolutely adorable, by the way) and have larger than average body sizes for the species. I'm pretty interested in morphological differences between populations, so that really catches my attention. Antarctic orcas seem to have the most drastic physical differences, though they're much more difficult to study than, say, California transients or the New Zealand orca.
 
wensleydale said:
Northern Resident Killer Whales have been caught on camera rubbing on a beach in B.C.

Amateur Videographer Captures Rare Behavior of B.C. Orcas | Maine News Online

I hope the planned expansion at SeaWorld includes some kind of rubbing beach, it would be neat to see if Corky knows how to use one and if she could show the others how as well.
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I saw this beach in a documentary (one of the documentaries that inspired me to love the species) and thought, if I was gonna build an orca tank I would totally add something like that. Orcas are so cool. Only a few populations are well-studied yet they're so diverse in behavior and habits. I wonder what we'd find if we studied more populations?
 
Big news! A new Southern resident calf has been spotted! The baby has been designated J51, and it seems the mother is J19. According to the information from the Whale Museum website, this will be her third calf and second surviving calf. (the first only lived a few weeks) J50 was also spotted and is looking well. Fingers crossed!
 
Yet another SR calf! BABY EXPLOSION. Like two of the previous three, this one is from J pod and has been dubbed J52. They don't know who the mother is yet. They think it might J40 Suttles, but they need a few days to confirm. If it is her calf, it will be her first. I was a bit surprised that they think it's her, since she's a year or two younger than the average breeding age, but hey, there are always gonna be outliers. (after all, Slick is pretty old to have a calf)

J pod must've had one heck of a party a year ago.
 
So now they believe that J52 is the calf of J36 Alki. Alki is the daughter of J16 Slick, (who recently had J50) so it's kind of cool that they're raising calves together. At 16 years old, Alki was about due for her first calf.
 
Dead orca washed up in California. Doesn't appear to be a resident. On first glance, they think it's a transient. Though personally I think it might be offshore. The dorsal fin is rounded, not pointed, and he has a little bit of tooth wear. He also has quite a bit of scarring, (assuming these scars were obtained before death) something you don't see much in fish eaters outside of icy waters. (though both transients and offshores tend to have lots of scars) 25 feet long, male.

Anyway, the poor thing had a crab buoy wrapped around its tail. A necropsy will determine the cause of death. Victoria Marine Science Association has more photos on its Facebook page.
 
This stranding is getting mysterious. The whale resembles an offshore (known to feed on sharks) but in its stomach, they found a harbor seal almost completely intact. Maybe it's a sign there's so much we don't know about offshores.
 
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