Orca Week

09/09/2025

GLOBAL ORCAS of ALASKA
"R24‘s - September 6th, 2025 - Klawock Inlet, Alaska"
Killer Whales of B.C.

09/05/2025

AWARDING WINNING ORCA PHOTO of AUSTRALIA
This photo was winner of the monochrome category in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 competition.
Photo by Rachelle Mackintosh

This photo was winner of the monochrome category in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 competition.

Showing the power and beauty, the photographer captured the moment just after the orca had caught some prey.

Photo: Rachelle Mackintosh

09/03/2025

ORCAS ARE GLOBAL
This link shows some of places to see them in the wild.

Luxury Travel Auctions Worldwide

08/29/2025

FIN PHOTO ID TECNOLOGY CALLED 'FINWAVE'.
"The AI algorithm embedded in our dorsal fin photo-identification workflow expediter, finwave, is now published open access in Ecological Informatics. Although developed for Bigg’s killer whales, in this study we also tested the model on southern resident orcas, humpback whales, Lahille’s bottlenose dolphins and minke whales with great results. Overall, this pipeline and its deployment on finwave offer a scalable, efficient, and accessible solution that lowers technical barriers, accelerates and supports cetacean population monitoring efforts and advances the role of machine learning in biological sciences." Bay Cetology

08/29/2025

TOOTH SHAPE WEAR of ORCAS
Illustration by Emma Luck: Northern Naturalist

A little refresh of an infographic I made a few years ago! Tooth shape and wear across killer whale subspecies and ecotypes can give us clues into what they’re eating 🔎 While not pictured here, some killer whales in the North Atlantic also have very worn down teeth as a result of suction feeding on herring!

08/14/2025

EARLY DEVELOPMENT IN ORCA EVOLUTION
O. citoniensis is one of the smallest Orcinine dolphins, patrolling coastlines that used to cover parts of Europe some 3 million years ago, potentially representing a transitional form from other toothed dolphins to the super predators we know today as modern orcas. Illustration by Connor at instagram.com/ddinodan_

AI Mode Summary:
Cetacean Evolution: The ancestors of modern whales (cetaceans, including orcas) evolved from land-dwelling mammals over 50 million years ago.

Early Orcinus Species: The earliest fossil identified as an ancestor of the modern killer whale, Orcinus citoniensis, dates back to the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 to 2.6 million years ago). This species was smaller than today's orcas and had more teeth, resembling a typical dolphin.

Modern Killer Whale Evolution: The exact timeline for the emergence of the modern Orcinus orca species is still being refined. However, studies of genetic divergence indicate that the various orca populations (ecotypes) diverged relatively recently, within the last few hundred thousand years (estimates range between 126,000 and 227,000 years ago). The evolution of their specialized marine mammal hunting behavior is also considered a recent development, likely occurring within the last 1.3 to 3 million years.

The modern Orcinus orca species and its global distribution are recent developments, even though the killer whale lineage is ancient. According to Cell Press, killer whales are the sole survivors of a clade that flourished 4 million years ago. Limited understanding of the rapid diversification of dolphins, including the establishment of modern dolphin fauna, is due to gaps in the fossil record, especially for the Pleistocene epoch. (Google AI Mode)

07/31/2025

GLOBAL ORCAS of FALKLAND ISLANDS
"We’ve had several surprising and exciting sightings on our recent surveys! One of the biggest, was the unexpected appearance of a solitary bull killer whale at Volunteer Rocks on Tuesday. Unfortunately it was getting pretty dark and so we were unable to get usable photo-identification images of this animal, but a few record shots were taken of it in the gloomy pink dusk light." FIWP
Falkland Islands whale project

07/28/2025

GLOBAL ORCAS of ALASKA, ACOUSTICS
Killer whale detection and classification “Recordings were processed using the whistle and moan detector in the passive acoustic monitoring software PAMGuard (version 1.15.17) to automatically identify likely cetacean vocalizations”.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-99668-0?fromPaywallRec=false

07/16/2025

ORCAS IN ROUGH SEAS
The open ocean has large waves (to over 100 feet). How do Orcas react to these big ground swells?

Photo by Jodi Smith via Mendonoma Sightings
“Jodi C. Smith is the Executive Director of Naked Whale Research (nakedwhaleresearch.org). She has relocated to the Irish Beach area to study the endangered Southern Resident pods of Killer Whales - known as J, K and L pods. These Orcas are on the move. They have spent the summer months south of Vancouver Island and in Puget Sound. Now they are passing by the Mendonoma Coast. On Jan. 10th K pod was spotted a mile off of Little River. Jodi went out in a boat to get these photos. As you can probably tell, the seas were rough.” MS

07/14/2025

RARE ORCAS OF NEWFOUNDLAND
"Seeing orcas at Cape Spear is a rare experience that most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will probably never have. It's truly a case of being in the right place at the right time—thankfully, there are photographs to cherish this moment." NLP

07/14/2025

ORCAS "ALLOKELPING" - KELP MASSAGING
"Orcas might be onto the latest wellness trend - kelp massages. Researchers have observed orcas in the North Pacific engaging in a behaviour dubbed "allokelping" where they have been seen rubbing strands of kelp along their bodies, sometimes even helping each other in the process. This intriguing behaviour may support skin health, hygiene, or even serve a social bonding function. While it's commonly seen in Southern Resident orcas, it's still unclear how widespread it is across other populations." WDC

Orcas have been filmed using kelp as a tool to massage each other

07/11/2025

ORCAS of LOWER LATITUDES OUTBREEDING
"This genetic admixture is not merely a one-off event; the researchers found that up to 20% of the genomes of Bremer Bay killer whales are derived from “Antarctic-like” ancestors, with several individuals having great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents of type B lineage" ELNN

One of the most intriguing characteristics of killer whales is their commonly perceived tendency to maintain strict social boundaries with outside groups. However, recent findings suggest that this is not always the case.

Research by Dr. Isabella Reeves and colleagues, published in the Journal of Molecular Biology in March, reveals that killer whales from southwestern Australia—Bremer Bay, specifically—have been interbreeding with killer whales from Antarctica, with genetic evidence pointing to type B killer whales. This genetic admixture is not merely a one-off event; the researchers found that up to 20% of the genomes of Bremer Bay killer whales are derived from “Antarctic-like” ancestors, with several individuals having great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents of type B lineage.

In contrast to their more selective relatives in northern regions, killer whales at lower latitudes appear more open to mingling with outside groups. This outbreeding is advantageous, as it introduces new genetic material and adaptive potential into small populations that might otherwise suffer from limited genetic diversity and inbreeding.

Citation: Reeves, I.M., Totterdell, J.A., Sandoval-Castillo, J., Betty, E.L., Stockin, K.A., Oliphant Stewart, R., Johnstone, M. and Foote, A.D. (2025), Admixture Increases Genetic Diversity and Adaptive Potential in Australasian Killer Whales. Mol Ecol e17689. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17689