The orca or killer whale is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is recognizable by its black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, orcas can be found in all of the world's oceans in a variety of marine environments, from Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas; they are absent only from the Baltic and Black seas, and some areas of the Arctic Ocean.
A5 Pod is a name given to a group of orcas found off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the northern resident population of orcas - a name given to the fish-eating orcas found in coastal waters ranging from mid-Vancouver Island up through the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia and into the southeastern portions of Alaska. The orcas of the Northern Resident community are divided into vocally distinctive clans known as the A clan, the G clan, and the R clan. Members of the A5 Pod belong to the A clan. As of 2013, A5 Pod consisted of 10 members.
Corky II, often referred to as just Corky, is a female captive killer whale from the A5 Pod. At approximately the age of four, Corky was captured from Pender Harbour off the coast of British Columbia on December 11, 1969. She has lived at SeaWorld San Diego in California since 1987. As of 2021, she is the oldest and longest kept captive killer whale.
Katina is a female orca who lives in SeaWorld Orlando in Florida. She was captured off Iceland at approximately three years of age on October 26, 1978. She is the most successful breeding female orca in captivity.
Sealand of the Pacific was a public aquarium in South Oak Bay at The Oak Bay Marina, near the city of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada. It housed a number of orcas: Haida, Nootka, and Tilikum. In 1991, all three were involved in an incident in which a trainer, Keltie Byrne, was killed. The aquarium subsequently closed and sold its orcas to SeaWorld.
Ramu III was an Orca who resided at the now-defunct Windsor Safari Park in Berkshire, England between 1970 and 1976, and later, at SeaWorld San Diego in California between 1976 and 1986. An adult male, Ramu was caught on August 8, 1970, after his pod of eighty orcas was 'corralled' in Penn Cove, near Coupeville, Washington, USA. At capture, Ramu was 13.32 ft long and a member of the Southern Resident Killer Whales' L-pod. It is assumed his family members still survive in the Salish Sea and in nearby Pacific coastal waters.
Luna also known as L98 or Tsux'iit, was a killer whale (orca) born in Puget Sound. After being separated from his mother while still young, Luna spent five years in Nootka Sound, an ocean inlet of western Vancouver Island, where he had extensive human contact and became recognized internationally.
Springer, officially named A73, is a wild orca from the Northern Resident Community of orcas which every summer frequent the waters off the northern part of Vancouver Island, British Columbia (BC). In January 2002, Springer, then a calf developmentally equivalent to a human toddler, was discovered alone and emaciated some 250 miles from the territory of her family. Experts identified Springer by her vocal calls that are specific to her family, or "pod," and by examining photographs of her eye patch. They were also able determine where Springer's pod was currently located.
Captive killer whales are live killer whales which are held in captivity by humans, often for breeding or performance purposes. The practice of capturing and displaying orcas in exhibitions began in the 1960s, soon becoming popular attractions at public aquariums and aquatic theme parks due to their intelligence, trainability, striking appearance, playfulness, and sheer size. As of August 19, 2021, there were 57 orcas in captivity worldwide, 30 of which are captive-born. At that time, there were 19 live orcas in the Seaworld parks.
A4 pod is a killer whale family in British Columbia. As of March 2013, it consists of three matrilines and 15 members and is the family of Springer, the first orca to be successfully reintroduced to the wild after being handled by humans. A4 pod is part of the northern resident orcas found in coastal waters ranging from mid-Vancouver Island to southeastern Alaska up through Haida Gwaii. The community is made up of three clans known as A, G and R clans, each possessing a distinctive dialect and consisting of several related pods. A4 pod belongs to the biggest clan, A clan.
Michael Andrew Bigg was an English-born Canadian marine biologist who is recognized as the founder of modern research on killer whales. With his colleagues, he developed new techniques for studying killer whales and conducted the first population census of the animals. Bigg's work in wildlife photo-identification enabled the longitudinal study of individual killer whales, their travel patterns, and their social relationships in the wild, and revolutionized the study of cetaceans.
The southern resident killer whales (SRKW) are the smallest of four separate, non-interbreeding communities of the exclusively fish-eating ecotype of killer whale in the northeast portion of the North Pacific Ocean. The fish-eating ecotype was historically given the name 'resident,' but other ecotypes are also resident in the area. The National Marine Fisheries Service listed this distinct population segment of killer whales as endangered, effective in 2005, under the Endangered Species Act. In Canada the SRKW are listed as endangered on Species at Risk Act Schedule 1. They are commonly referred to as the "orcas of the Salish Sea", "fish-eating orcas", "southern residents", or the "SRKW population". Unlike other resident communities, the SRKW is only one clan (J) that consists of 3 pods with several matrilines within each pod. As of July 2021 there are only 74 individuals. The world's oldest known killer whale, Granny or J2, had belonged to and led the J pod of the SRKW population. As of October 2016, she is missing and presumed deceased. J2 was estimated to have been born around 1911, which means she would have been 105 years old at the time of her death, and the oldest known orca to date. On July 24, 2018, the first calf born in three years died after being alive for only half an hour.
A1 pod is a killer whale family in British Columbia. It currently consists of 3 matrilines and 20 members and is the most commonly encountered pod in the Northern resident killer whale community. This community is found in coastal waters ranging from mid-Vancouver Island up through the Queen Charlotte Islands, although A1 pod has yet to be seen this far north. The community is made up of three clans known as A, G and R clans, each possessing a distinctive dialect and consisting of several related pods. A1 pod belongs to the biggest clan, A clan.
Tilikum, nicknamed Tilly, was a captive killer whale who spent most of his life performing at SeaWorld Orlando. He was captured in Iceland in 1983 at Hafnarfjörður, near Reykjavík. About a year later, he was transferred to Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia. He was subsequently transferred in 1992 to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. He sired 21 calves, of which nine are still alive as of 2021.
Alexandra Bryant Hubbard Morton is best known for her 30-year study of wild killer whales in the Broughton Archipelago in British Columbia. Since the 1990s, her work has shifted toward the study of the impact of salmon farming on Canadian wild salmon.
Granny, also known as J2, was an orca. Based on an early estimate that placed her birth in 1911, she would have been 105 years old at the time of her death. However, this estimate was later revealed to have been based on mistaken information. More recent studies put her at 65-80 years old. If she was 105, she would have been the oldest known orca at the time of her death. A member of the endangered southern resident killer whale population, Granny lived in the northeast Pacific Ocean and coastal bays of Washington state and British Columbia. She was last seen on October 12, 2016, and was considered deceased by The Center for Whale Research in January 2017.
Tahlequah, also known as J35, is a killer whale of the Southern Resident community in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. She has given birth to three known offspring, a male in 2010, a female in 2018, and another male in 2020. Her second calf died shortly after birth and J35 carried her body for 17 days in an apparent show of grief that attracted international attention.
Walter the Whale was a star killer whale (orca) when keeping killer whales in captivity had just begun. At that time, following the death of Namu, the only other established star killer whale was Shamu. "Walter the Whale" was the killer whale's advertised name.
