Célia Augereau on facebook:

Photos of 27s pod, from yesterday. We followed them from Dunbeath to Keiss all day, here some memories of the best day ever !!

Source

K34 and K27 breaching in sync, with K13 to the left. From CWR encounter #88 from ‘16.

Ocean Wise Marine Mammal Research Program:

Here’s one of our favourite shots of northern resident killer whales (the A42s) taken during our drone research study. From top to bottom individuals are Current (A79), Albion (A103), Cameleon (A88), and Sonora (A42). During periods of social activity, northern residents will spend a considerable amount of time rubbing their bodies on sloped, pebble beaches. Researchers do not know if there is a specific purpose for this behaviour or if it’s for pleasure or recreation. Learn more about how we’re using drones to measure the body condition of killer whales here: https://research.ocean.org/project/body-condition-of-killer-whales (x)

Some of the Japanese Resident whales have gorgeous saddle patches.

Antarctic Killer Whales Hunting Seals (Frozen Planet)

Male orca in the Norwegian sunset (x)

Norwegian Orca Survey on facebook:

“Killer whales are officially back to Skjervøy, northern Norway. We are hoping for plenty of herring and whales for this new winter season!”

(Photos by  Irene Sandnes on facebook - source)

Orca of the Norwegian Arctic by George Karbus

CWR Encounter 07: Bigg’s Transients 

Photos by Mark Malleson

While his connection to whales is one he feels in his heart, Inslee said, it is also one he understands as rooted in ecology. From reducing toxins in the water to boosting salmon in the rivers, “When we are taking care of Tahlequah, we are taking care of us,” Inslee said.

His proposals include:

• Nearly $363 million in the capital budget for salmon recovery, culvert removal, water-quality and water-supply projects around the state.

• $296 million in the Washington State Department of Transportation budget for culvert repairs to respond to a federal-district court injunction requiring the work, a judgment affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

• $12 million to boost hatchery production of chinook, the orcas’ primary food much of the year.

• $750,000 to support evaluation by a task force of breaching the Lower Snake River dams as a way to increase chinook for southern resident orcas. The group is directed to examine the economic and social costs and benefits and ways to mitigate breaching effects for shippers, irrigators, utilities, ports, tribes, fishermen and others.

The day I found out just how much a whale weighs…

Okay, so here’s a little behind-the-scenes: marine biologist edition

The day we necropsied the entangled humpback whale, we had set up a perimeter of caution tape to give us some room to work. A little portion of the whale’s tail fluke stuck out beyond it just enough to inspire young children to curiously touch it (@ parents please keep your children from touching the literal corpse rotting on the beach it’s actually a biohazard) so anyway we’re taking body measurements and removing samples of blubber and such from the animal and preparing them for dispersal to their respective laboratories for analysis, including some internal organs as well to find out if it had eaten while it was entangled. This means we have to remove a large enough portion of blubber to get inside and lemme tell you whalers were probably ripped to hell because getting inside of a whale is literally the most physically exhausting task on earth. So later on our stranding coordinator asks me for a photograph of the flukes so we could possibly identify the deceased whale, it’s valuable information for us.

Now I’m thinking to myself “wow, what a perfect opportunity to move the whale’s tail just a short ways back to pull it behind the caution tape, that’ll keep the kids from touching it” because for some reason my coffee and food deprived college brain didn’t think twice about the fact that this whale is as long as a damn semi truck and weighs 30 metric tons. And so while my coworkers were up at the head of the whale, I went over to the tail when the crowd had kinda left and I already had my gloves on from earlier so I just figured okay let’s get that photograph and I knelt down and grabbed onto one of its flukes (which collectively are about you know approx. 10 feet wide or something) and I nonchalantly proceeded to try and hoist it over to the side.

The whale fluke absolutely did not move anywhere but I did however rip the most passionate fart of my life.

11 Killer Whales and 90 Beluga Whales kept in Srednyaja Bay, Russia

October 31, 2018

Russian Orcas on facebook:

A veterinary inspection by the government has verified that 90 beluga whales and 11 killer whales are currently being kept in Srednyaja Bay in Primorsky Krai in Russia. This article presents insights into the way the business of selling marine mammals works in Russia. [article in Russian only]

Recent photos show that J49 T'ilem I'nges has thankfully recovered from his slight peanut head

July 2018:

October 2018:

Photos by Brendon Bissonnette

J7 Sucia

J7 was estimated to have been born around the year 1930. She was suspected to have been the mother of two well known Southern Resident Killer Whales. Her subgroup is known for having the highest frequency of open saddle patches in J pod. Her first thought to be child was J3 Merlin who was estimated to have been born in 1955. There was a large time gap between her first and second calf which makes people suspect that she lost as least one calf to captivity but this was never confirmed. Her second suspected child is J16 Slick who was born around 1972.

J7 Sucia disappeared in 1983 while J16 Slick was only about 11 years old. J16 expanded the subgroups numbers greatly after her mothers death by having six calves, three of which are around today. 

[x]

Wow

Sira (Snapped in the Wild)

waterproject Orcas in Orange County!!!! What what?!? Truly a bucket list moment yesterday to witness these Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) Orcas. These Orcas are very rare to see as they are a transient type of Orca with no home base. Their range can cover from Peru to Hawaii to Mexico and up and down the entire West Coast. We witnessed 7+ Killer Whales on hunt chasing after dolphins. We thought the dolphins got away but with the drone view you can see they in fact got a common dolphin. Crazy to see how smart Orcas are. Truly never thought I’d witness this in person in my lifetime. Cheers @captdaveswhalewatchingfor making it happen!