#killer whale
Listen to this killer whale say ‘hello’ and ‘bye-bye’
When it comes to echoing human speech, parrots are the superstars of the animal world—but a killer whale named Wikie may not be far behind. The 14-year-old orca showed off her vocal skills by imitating her trainer’s words, saying things like “Amy” and “bye-bye.” Researchers got her to do this by first training her to obey a hand signal that meant “copy this,” which, for instance, was used to instruct her to copy another orca squirting water into the air. Then, they presented her with sounds she had never heard before—five sounds from other orcas and six phrases spoken by trainers—and asked her to repeat them. In all trials, Wikie responded to the command by uttering something that roughly matched the sound that she was asked to copy, the team reports today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Sometimes it took as many as 17 tries to get it right, but she got four of them on her first try, including the human phrases “hello” and “one, two, three.” Orcas form tight-knit groups in the wild, each with their own dialect, so scientists think that their ability to learn new sounds may be key to how they communicate and interact with one other.
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viaAlbert Michaud Photographie:
Back in Antarctica for a few weeks and just arrived my season is already perfect! An amazing encounter with d-type killer whales in the drake, an hour spent with these southern ocean puzzles. A very curious group who came to do bow riding at the front of the ship! The chance of a life!
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Sightings off the Shiretoko Peninsula on 5.12.2016 of a new calf!
Photos via Shiretoko Nature Cruise
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Orca seen near Rausu on February 19, 2016.
Its less common to see orca near the Shiretoko peninsula; they are more regularly seen in the summer.
Source: Shiretoko Nature Cruise
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Underwater images of Japanese resident Orca, captured by nature photographer Masayuki Miyamoto.
The eye in the first pic :O
I don’t think I’ve ever seen underwater photos of wild Japanese orca.
And damn, what a beautiful eye! Staring right into ya.
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This is Granny. She lives on the west coast with her family. She was born in 1911, and is considered to be the oldest killer whale alive, turning 103 this year. This is longer then most of us will ever live.
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PCB Tests
Tests on the young recently deceased orca are being completed to see the difference in the PCB concentration between Type 1 and Type 2. So far W06 ‘Lulu’ a Type 2 individual had the highest recorded concentration in the world so it will be interesting to see if the two populations are having the same struggle.
A juvinile male has washed up in Eshaness. Very sad for the Northern Isles pod to lose a young pod member.
The cause of death is currently unknown.
Photos from Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary
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So many sightings of 032 ‘Busta’s group today from the northern isles pod amazing photos and some bloody fantastic videos I mean … look at this:
Land based sightings for the goddamn win.
I mean that is video…taken on a phone.
Anyway photos will be shared here over the next few days but if you can’t wait or you want to see these fabulous videos our facebook is HERE
One day I will figure out how to share facebook videos here correctly, one day.
Head over to our facebook page to see a video sighting of the West Coast Community from the 1st March !
W01 John Coe was present as was presumably W08 Aquarius (based on previous sightings and the fact the dorsal wasn’t leaning or flopped like the other remaining male members of the community)
This is the first identified sighting of the community this year.
It’s here everybody! Andrew Foote got in contact after seeing our attempt at a Northern Isles catalogue and kindly gave us the file we have been so excited to see for many years!
It’s the full Northern Isles ID Chart! From 012 to 139 !
(includes west coast community as well)
No more ‘No Image Available’ ! We have permission to share it and you can view it viathis link. It is getting an update soon but for now it is rather exciting to look at the ID Chart and see if you can match any previous unidentified orca from photographs and also look at the newly released Icelandic Catalogue as well and see if you can find any new matches or ID’s for current matches!
Enjoy guys, we are!
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Orcas in the River Clyde - Uploader commented they thought the orca were hunting a seal or porpoise in this video.
Sighted 21/04/2018
It has been a very exciting day for Scottish Orca! The pod in the Clyde has been ID’d as 064′s group from the Northern Isles, 032 ‘Busta’s dorsal was finally caught on a good quality video.
Not the West Coasters in the end, this is their usual range the Northern Isles are definitely not where they are normally sighted so going forward this could be interesting.
More Spyhopping Orca in the River Clyde! - Sighted 21/04/2018
Spyhopping Orca in the River Clyde - 21/04/2018
I was blown away with the response I got from my first batch as well as on my Instagram so here are even more exploration of Biology-infuenced Merfolk, AKA even more of Kara’s neighbors.
Likewise, you can find out more about them on my instagram, as this is not just an exploration of jaw apparatuses, but also merfolk fashion.
Most merfolk clothing are based off of the creatures of the sea and some amphibious critters, from fishes to crocodiles and mammals (like the Elephant seal jacket of the lionfish!)
Woven kelp are another major clothing materials, with clams, pearls and mussels act as jewelry. Sometimes whole critters are used as both fashion and pets! Sharks likewise don’t need braces, so Mrs. Frilled Shark simply thought they were fashionable!
Head to my Instagram to enter my World Oceans Day giveaway for the chance to win one children’s T-shirt size 4 and three octopus stickers!
Oh man. I was afraid of this :/ This just makes me really sad. He never would have died by FLOOD in the ocean. I’m scared he’s only going to be the first.
Rest in Peace Valentin.
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This month’s Patreon poll was to draw the winner as a mermaid. My patrons picked Yor Forger and requested her to have a killer whale’s tail ♥
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Orcas are pretty creepy. They’re really clever hunters, and come up with all kinds of ways to kill stuff. Sometimes they’ll kill a whole damn shark and then just eat the liver, and their mothers aren’t even like “There are starving whales in Africa who would love to eat that shark carcass!” because their mother probably helped them kill the thing in the first place, just for the pleasure of watching a non-orca die. Killer whales are the only animals that never leave their mothers, which gives them sort of a Norman Bates vibe when you consider they also murder stuff. Oh and check out that map up there: The blue parts aren’t water, they’re orca territory. Those bitches are murdering it up every place that it’s wet. And now orcas make me feel kind of old, because I remember seeing that movie “Free Willy” as a kid because my grandma had it on VHS, but now I don’t think kid’s grandmas even HAVE VHS tapes anymore, and they almost definitely don’t have “Free Willy.” Basically I feel like one day I’m going to mention “Free Willy” in a conversation with a respectable adult who is too young to remember that movie, and that makes me feel like a crusty old block of salt.
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