Killer whale pod attacks gray whale mother and calf

A mother grey whale moves through the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, her calf at her side.

In the distance, a menacing pod of orcas heads intently towards them.

And then the bloodshed starts. These shocking images show how killer whales will stop at nothing to get their feed - even if it involves attacking their own kind.

The orcas, which weigh about six tons each and measure up to 26 feet, take it in turn to ram headfirst into the calf, almost knocking it out of the water.

Other killer whales leap on top of the young mammal, trying to drown it.

The brutal attack, which took place off the coast of California, in Monterey Bay, lasted an hour and a half before the orcas succeeded in killing the calf.

The predators continued to devour his 20ft body underwater while his mother swam to safety.

Any remaining blubber that floated to the surface was swiftly swooped on and eaten by seabirds.

The attack was one of about 20 that occur in Monterey Bay every year when the grey whale calves and their mothers migrate 6,000 miles from their winter breeding grounds in Baja, California, to Alaska for the summer.

Every year about 15 calves fall prey to killer whales, which lie in wait as they cross the bay's deep canyon.

There are about 20,000 grey whales in the world and although they are not considered an endangered species, wildlife experts are concerned about their numbers.

Killer whales are one of the most predatory species in the world and eat other large mammals including dolphins and seals - and even great white sharks.


They will not usually attack humans, but have injured handlers at marine parks

Killer whales seen off South Coast Australia

A pod of killer whales has made an appearance near Montague Island, sparking hope the creatures may have put the area back on their itinerary after many years' absence.
Three females and a male sporting the distinctive extra-large dorsal fin were spotted 500m off the island last Thursday.

Senior Batemans Marine Park officer Julian Brown said the sighting was the second in as many years after a long hiatus.

"In recent times killer whales have become infrequent visitors to the NSW coast, due in part to a reduction in their prey from historic whale and seal harvesting," he said.

"It is the first time I have seen killer whales in the wild and I feel exceptionally privileged.

"They would have come from the Southern Ocean - they tend to prefer the colder water.

"The water at the moment is quite cold and there's a lot of seals so that's probably why they're around."

Mr Brown called on the community to report killer whale sightings to the Marine Parks Authority.

Thursday's sighting follows the discovery near Eden last week of a humpback whale carcass thought to be the mother of the euthanased orphan calf Collette.

A spokesperson for National Parks and Wildlife Service said DNA tests linking the carcass to the calf were continuing.

Seal eating orcas are pride of Shetland

SHETLAND's resident killer whales live off common seals, have an intensive social life and are the pride of islanders.

These are the preliminary findings of a three month field study carried out by a group of marine scientists from the universities of Aberdeen and St Andrews.

Their visit to the isles was part of a long term study into the population structure and identification of killer whales around Scotland's coast.

They have had numerous close sightings of groups of the cetaceans in Shetland waters, but mainly of a group of five animals and an individual male.

Speaking before leaving Shetland, Dr Andy Foote, of Aberdeen University, said the project had so far identified around 25 of the estimated 30 to 40 orcas that live in Shetland's coastal waters.
Colleague Dr Volker Deecke, of St Andrews University, added: "We have learned, first of all, that some of the animals are quite resident. We have followed a group of five animals for a six week period.

"A big part of their diet during that time was marine mammals. We didn't know when we came here whether they were fish or mammal eaters, or whether they eat both. We were able to document that they were always feeding on marine mammals.

"That ties in with the acoustic as well. The animals are extremely quiet, they don't call very often, and that is consistent with them hunting marine mammals, because marine mammals have good underwater hearing. All the predation we witnessed were harbour seals," he said.

Researcher Harriet Bolt said the killer whales’ eating habits had contributed to the decline of the local seal population.

The team found that the group structure of animals was rather "fluid", giving rise to speculation that animals were gathering purely to hunt together.
Dr Deecke, who had previously carried out orca research in the Pacific, said the local behaviour was different to what he had experienced elsewhere.

"We found that the killer whales we followed this summer were very different from killer whales in the Pacific that live in very stable groups, or at least some populations do. Some animals never leave the group, they are born into the group and they die in the group.

"Here it may be an adaptation for different hunting strategies, in that they form bigger groups when hunting certain prey. But that is speculation," he said.

The team said that local people had been “brilliant” in supporting their research by alerting them to killer whale sightings and providing a wealth of background information.

"You really get the sense that these animals are part of people's lives. Local people are proud of them, thrilled to see them, and keen to show them to other people.

"Islanders have been very supportive of our research work. It was a real pleasure working up here,” Dr Deecke said.

The team is now back on the Scottish mainland where they will spend the next few months working their way through photos, genetic material and acoustic recording before returning to Shetland next summer.

Dr Foote, however, will be back in the isles in October when he joins skipper George Anderson on board the pelagic trawler Adenia heading for the mackerel grounds.

During the last few years, Dr Foote said, he had observed groups of up to 50 killer whales feeding of mackerel off Shetland.

http://www.shetlandmarine.com/2008/07%20Environment/seal_eating_orcas_are_pride_of_shetland.htm

New calf for orca pod sometimes seen on West Coast

new calf has been born to an orca pod that frequents the West Coast of Vancouver Island and has even been known to come into the Tofino harbour.

The new calf named L111 is part of the L-pod a family of killer whales known as the southern residents.

The birth was noted August 12 by the Friday Harbour Washington-based Center for Whale Research off the coast of the U.S. San Juan Islands.

Once news of the birth was posted on the center's website, it created quite a buzz among marine researchers and orca enthusiasts.

Researchers said L111's mother was seen the evening before without a calf, and then the following day with the calf still exhibiting fetal folds leading them to believe she was less than 24 hours old when spotted.

According to the Center, this is the sixth calf born to L111's mother L47. She is a 34 year old grandmother whose last calf did not survive.

The L pod was the same pod Luna the whale was born into. Luna, or L98, was separated from the pod and made his home near Gold River in Nootka Sound, just north of Clayoquot Sound in 2001.

Luna began to be interested in boats and then floatplanes and was often seen around Gold River's dock area.

After five years on his own and failed attempts to capture him and reunite him with L-pod, Luna was killed after coming into contact with the propeller of a tugboat.

The Center estimates there are currently 43 killer whales in the L-pod although two are listed as missing.

Because of the high mortality rate of calves, if L111 returns to the San Juan Islands next summer the Center says it will officially count her in L-pod's population.

New baby killer whale joins pod off Vancouver Island

VICTORIA -- Whale watchers are celebrating the sight of a new baby whale swimming with one of three endangered pods of killer whales off the coast of Vancouver Island.

The calf was spotted Wednesday by researchers with the Center for Whale Research of Friday Harbour, Wash., and appeared to be only hours old as fetal folds were still visible, said senior staff member Erin Heydenreich.

"They are folded up on their side when they are in the womb and the folds are still visible 24 hours after birth," she said.

The mother, L47, had been seen the previous day without a calf, so the birth apparently took place overnight.

"It is really exciting to see the calf so soon. Everything looks good so far," said Heydenreich.

"This is the sixth calf for L47 and the last three didn't survive. There's no real reason that we know about, but she's 34, so she's approaching the age when she will be post-reproductive," Heydenreich said.

But, for now, the calf appears healthy and is swimming with sisters L83 and L91, she said.

This summer, L Pod has spent much of its time swimming up the west coast of Vancouver Island, instead of the more usual summer stomping grounds off Victoria, possibly because they have found better fishing in that area.

That is making it more difficult to count the number of whales in the pod, but researchers believe two members of L Pod are missing, including the brother of Luna, the whale who was killed by a tugboat propeller two years ago.

The two missing whales are L101, Luna's brother, who was born in 2002, and L21, a grandmother who was born in 1950.

"They're only officially missing," said Heydenreich, which means the count for L Pod will remain at 43 mammals for now.

The 25-whale J Pod had a new baby last year, but none this year "and no one is suspiciously missing from J Pod," Heydenreich said.

K Pod is probably holding steady at 19 whales as a new baby was born earlier this year, but the matriarch, 98-year-old Lummi, is believed to have died.

The Ks have only one breeding-age male, but the whales usually choose mates from outside their pods.

Southern resident populations never recovered from decades of shootings and then captures for aquariums. The main threats they now face are pollution, shrinking salmon runs and marine noise.

A rare glimpse of killer whales here

An Eastern Passage fishing charter captain got a real thrill when he spotted two killer whales about 20 kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia.

Art Gaetan of Blue Shark Fishing Charters snapped photos of the pair on Thursday.

He and about nine customers were amazed at what they saw, Mr. Gaetan said, adding that he hasn’t seen killer whales out there in 28 years.

"We tracked them for about 45 minutes to an hour," he said. "It was pretty cool."

The orcas were swimming near two fin whales, Mr. Gaetan said.

Mr. Gaetan said he and his clients, from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario, were all excited to see four whales so close up.

"The reaction was pretty wild," Mr. Gaetan said. "But it was kind of hard, because I was trying to drive the boat and take pictures at the same time."

Lindy Weilgart, a whale researcher associated with Dalhousie University, said it’s unusual to see killer whales that close to shore.

"I would put it at uncommon but not unheard of," said Ms. Weilgart, noting orcas are more commonly found on the Scotian Shelf.

It’s also unusual to see just two killer whales, she said. "They would generally be in groups."

There are resident, transient and offshore killer whales, said the marine biologist.

"They certainly wouldn’t be resident like the inshore ones off the northwest coast of the U.S., but they could either be offshore or they could be transients," Ms. Weilgart said. "Neither of those is particularly well studied. They would probably range quite widely."

The whales might be attracted to large concentrations of seals on Sable Island, she said.

"These guys are just very unpredictable and unknown."

The killer whales would typically be hunting other marine mammals, she said.

"They would probably be in search of food, be it seal or herring," said Andrew Newbould, a marine mammal adviser with the Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

After examining a photo of the whales seen Thursday off Halifax, Mr. Newbould said the one with the straight dorsal fin is male and the female has the smaller, curved dorsal fin.

"While not a common occurrence, sightings of killer whales off Nova Scotia are generally reported every few years," he said. "The species distribution spans the globe, including the majority of the North Atlantic Ocean, so it’s hard to say where they’re coming from or where they’re going."

Killer whale loses its dorsal fin - and possibly its life

"I've never seen anything like it before!"

Perry Young, skipper of the M.V. Daybreak 93, a tour boat operating out of Twillingate North, was still amazed a couple of days afterwards at what had occurred while on a tour on July 17.

With several tourists aboard he had come across a pod of killer whales just off Twillingate Harbour, he recounted, and had stopped for his passengers to take photos. He said it was obvious that the whale were about to feed on a school of salmon. Mr. Young said with no icebergs in the area, tourists are anxious to sight whales and take souvenir photos.

"There were eight whales altogether, made up of two adult males, four adult females and two young ones," he said.

Because of Mr. Young's experience on the water his identification of the killer whales was not contested since that specie is known to inhabit the waters around the coast. He explained that the young ones were some eight to 10 feet in length, while the adult males were 20-25 feet long and the adult females slightly smaller.

The whales, he said, like a pack of wolves were in the act of herding some salmon into a smaller area before attacking. When they finally made the rush to get the salmon one of the adults bit off the dorsal fin of one of the younger whales.

"I can't say that it was intentional," said Mr. Young. "But it might have been in the excitement of the moment that the young one got caught in the cross fire.

"Regardless, the fin was cleanly bitten off and left floating on the water. What happened to the young whale I don't know because we never saw it again."

Mr. Young's sister Kim Young, who serves as first mate on the Daybreak, saw the incident and corroborated what her brother had described. It was Ms. Young as well who spotted the fin floating in the water and recovered it.

On close examination the teeth marks were clearly evident and the whole dorsal fin was removed. According to literature on killer whales, the dorsal fin acts as a kind of keel and stabilizes the whale in its swimming, therefore it is quite possible that the young whale may have gone to the bottom. There is no recorded evidence that killer whales attack their own kind.

Aboard the Daybreak at the time of the sighting were several tourists with a couple from Newfoundland, some from Europe with most from the province of Ontario. Mr. Young said they will have photos and a story they will tell for a long time.

"There's no doubt but that they got their money's worth on that trip," he said.

"New" Killer Whale Types at Risk From Antarctic Warming

Two newly identified types of killer whales that hunt prey off of Antarctic sea ice risk losing food sources to global warming and melting, according to a new study on the whales' movement patterns.

The study reveals that killer whales that feed primarily on fish that congregate under ice shelves are more or less "homebodies," sticking close to the ice, whereas seal-eating killer whales wander wide and seemingly aimlessly.

The differences in movement patterns likely correlate to differences in the whales' foraging strategies and how they interact with their prey, according to the study.

For example, fish-eating whales can stay local because the main anti-predator strategy of fish is to bunch up into schools, often under the ice shelves, according to researchers. On the other hand, the seal-eating whales chase prey with a wider range, as seals wash off of ice floes and travel farther.

Both types of killer whales tracked are heavily dependent on ice cover, according to Robert Pitman, a study co-author and marine biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in La Jolla, California.

"If there are changes in the amount of ice cover [in the Antarctic] then it means there are going to be changes in the amount of habitat that [the whales] have available to them," Pitman said. "And we're not sure how adaptable they are to living in a different kind of habitat."

The new research, published online this month in the journal Polar Biology, highlights the need to unravel the whale's basic biology, noted Pitman.

The research was supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society (which owns National Geographic News).

New Killer Whale Species?

Pitman and his colleagues have spent nearly ten years compiling evidence to show that three species of killer whales, not one, ply the icy Antarctic waters.

To date, the researchers have identified three "types" of killer whales, each with distinct looks, habits, and diets, and perhaps even unique genes.

One type swims under the cracked ice and eats fish and another feeds on seals and other mammals, such as penguins, from ice floes. The third, a more transient and more studied species, swims in the open ocean and preys primarily on minke whales, which are a small filter-feeding species of marine mammal.

Until the 1970s, Pitman noted, all killer whales, also known as orcas, were considered one species that occurred around the world from the Antarctic to the Arctic and ate anything they could find.

The picture changed when researchers identified three types of killer whales in the North Pacific.

The three types do not interbreed. "In fact, they completely avoid each other," said Pitman, whose studies of Antarctic killer whales are revealing patterns similar to those in the North Pacific.

While scientists are hesitant to call the whale types different species because their differences could be culturally enforced, the whales are "clearly on a trajectory to become separate species," Pitman said.

He noted that their distinct food and habitat preferences, size differences, and perhaps even different vocalizations are all barriers to reproduction.

"At some point, they won't be able to interbreed even if they wanted to," Pitman said.

This May, Pitman co-authored a paper in the journal Biology Letters that found genetic differences that are consistent with reproductive isolation among the three types of Antarctic killer whales.

John Ford is a killer whale expert with Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

He said the Antarctic studies fit with the global picture that killer whales represent a complex of populations that function as different species even though they are not yet scientifically described as such.

Ford added that the addition of the satellite tagging technology that Pitman used on his most recent study of killer whales will help "focus our conservation efforts for particular populations that might be in trouble."

Carcass of baby orca found off San Juan Island

A dead orca calf was recovered from a beach on Henry Island's Open Bay, Saturday, by the San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

The calf's carcass was initially sighted and photographed by a part-time resident of Henry Island during low tide the morning of July 26. The Stranding Network reported it did not get the information and pictures until several days later, so when the carcass was finally recovered, it was in a state of advanced decomposition.

It is believed the calf was born prematurely. Cause of death, as well as whether it was a member of a resident or transient pod, is expected to be determined in a necropsy being conducted by Dr. Joe Gaydos, the Stranding Network’s veterinarian and regional director of the SeaDoc Society.

“A newborn killer whale calf is usually 7 to 8 feet long and 300-400 pounds,” Stranding Network Coordinator Amy Traxler said in a press release.

“This carcass was approximately 5 feet long with an estimated weight of 70-80 pounds, so it’s likely this calf was aborted.” The placenta was lying next to the calf when originally discovered, she said.

Gaydos expected to collect tissue samples during the necropsy to determine the whale's parentage.

“If we recover viable skin and blubber, which is not always possible from a decomposed carcass, we might be able to determine if the calf is a member of the Southern resident community and possibly even narrow down the pod of origin,” Traxler said.

Fresh tissue samples also would contain information on contaminant levels and possibly provide a cause for the calf’s abortion.

It’s very rare to recover a body of a stranded killer whale. A recent paper Gaydos presented to the International Whaling Commission suggests that an average of seven killer-whale carcasses are found around the world annually, making every killer whale stranding a rare opportunity to learn more about the biology and diseases of this species.

In May 2002, L-60’s carcass was found on the outer coast of Washington. In January 2002, the body of a female transient whale was recovered by Dungeness Spit. The body of J-18 washed up by Tsawwassen, B.C. in March 2000. The body of L-51 was found in September 1999 near Victoria, B.C.

All of these carcasses were fresh, permitting scientists to learn more about the diseases of killer whales and which diseases might have an impact on the overall health of the population. Fresh necropsy samples also have helped scientists understand how contaminants impact killer whales.

The San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network is one of many science and education programs at The Whale Museum. If you encounter a stranded marine mammal in San Juan County, alive or dead, call (800) 562-8832 and leave a message with your name, phone number, location, and other pertinent details of the stranding.

K-7, oldest of Southern resident orcas, believed dead

K-7, the oldest orca in the Southern resident pods, is believed dead. She is believed to have been 98 years old and was the matriarch of a line that extended five generations.

The whale, also known as Lummi, was last seen Dec. 23 and has not been seen since K pod returned in spring, according to the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island. All other K pod whales are accounted for, including K-42, a calf born in June.

The Center for Whale Research, which has monitored the local orca population since 1976, puts the whale population at 88. That's 26 in J pod, 19 in K pod and 43 in L. Research assistant Courtney Smith said the estimated population of L pod is "soft" because L pod has spent most of the season along the west coast of Vancouver Island. "We haven't accurately identified everyone in L pod yet," she said.

As for K-7, "(Researchers) have seen everyone else in K pod except K-7. It's safe to say she's gone," Smith said.

K-7's last known sighting was in Puget Sound on Dec. 23 by Brad Hanson of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

K-7, believed born in 1910, was an important symbol. When she was born — to parents undoubtedly born in the 1800s — the local orca population was possibly over 120. In her lifetime, she survived bullets from fishermen that saw orcas as competition for salmon. She survived the marine park era, in which 50 whales were captured or died during capture. She survived despite depleted salmon stocks and increased marine pollution.

The population rebounded from 71 in 1973 to 99 in 1995, then plummeted to 79 six years later. The population rebounded to 80 in 2002, 83 in 2003, 85 in 2004 and 89 in 2005, but has seesawed around 88 since then. The local pods were declared endangered by the U.S. and Canada by 2005 and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has been patrolling the area to enforce rules requiring boats to maintain a distance of 100 yards from the whales.

The Center for Whale Research says the whales' biggest threats are pollution in Puget Sound and declines in salmon. The center says the Navy may also share the blame.

"The whale population decline is coincident with the deployment of (Destroyer Squadron) 9 to Everett in 1995,” the center's Web site states. "The destroyer squadron's exercise area is nominally off the Olympic Peninsula but has included Strait of Juan de Fuca and Haro Strait.”

The whales are called Southern residents because they spend a lot of the year in this region. J is here much of the year, while K and L travel as far as California but return in the summer.

When the pods return to the San Juan Islands in early summer, the Center for Whale Research gets their first good look at who is present, including any new calves, as well as who may not have made it through the winter.

“These orcas are icons and indicators of the quality of Puget Sound and coastal waters," center director Ken Balcomb said in an earlier interview. "How they fare in coming years will tell us a lot about our own fate.”

With K-42's death, the oldest Southern resident orca is J-2, also known as Granny, believed born in 1911. The matriarch of L pod is L-25, also known as Ocean Sun, born in 1928.

K-42 descendants include a daughter, K-11, believed born in 1933; a granddaughter, K-13; four great-grandchildren, K-20, K-25, K-27 and K-34; and a great-great-grandchild, K-38.

K-38 is the offspring of K-20.

Group campaigns for return of penned orca

Annual memorial strives for killer whale's release

It was 38 years ago this Friday that life changed forever for the southern resident killer whales.

As members of the three resident orca pods travelled up Puget Sound, explosives were thrown into the water from aircraft and about 100 frantic animals were driven into Penn Cove on Whidbey Island and netted.

At least four whales were killed and about seven others were captured and taken to aquariums.

It was the height of the whale captures between 1965 and 1973, which saw about a dozen whales killed and at least 45 captured from the waters of southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound.

The population, now listed as endangered with 88 whales in three pods, has never recovered and is now facing the additional threats of pollution and shrinking salmon runs.

The only survivor of the southern resident captures is Lolita, a member of L Pod who, for 38 years, has lived in a cramped tank at Miami Seaquarium.

Each year on Aug. 8, in a grim commemoration at the Captain Whidbey Inn at Penn Cove, the Orca Network holds a ceremony to remember the capture and make yet another plea for Lolita's release.

After an evening of special presentations, there will be a waterside ceremony, said Susan Berta of Orca Network.

"We make a wreath out of cedar and native plants and, at the end of the event, we go and put the wreath in the water," she said.

"Every year we hope it will be the year to welcome home Lolita. We hold on to that."

Earlier this year a group of celebrities became active in trying to get Lolita released, and animal-rights lawyers around Miami are looking for ways to launch a lawsuit.

But Miami Seaquarium has shown no sign of budging, even though Lolita -- now in her early 40's -- is no longer the major star of the shows.

In a statement issued earlier this year, Andrew Hertz, general manager of Miami Seaquarium, said releasing Lolita is not an option and there is no scientific evidence she could survive in the open ocean.

"Lolita will remain at Miami Seaquarium surrounded by people who love and protect her," he said.

Everyone is welcome at the Penn Cove event and the audience includes a core group of people who witnessed the capture, Berta said.

"They feel they need to recognize the horror of it and remember the whales we have lost," Berta said.

For more information visit www.orcanetwork.org.