Granny (orca)

Last updated

J2 Granny
Granny Orca.jpg
Species Orca (Orcinus orca)
SexFemale
Bornc. 1936–1951
Diedc. October–December 2016 (aged 65–80)
Known forLong life
AppearanceGray "saddle patch" behind dorsal fin; half-moon notch in dorsal fin

Granny (born c. 1936-1951 approx, died c. 2016), also known as J2, was a female orca of the J pod of southern resident orcas notable for her long life. Early estimates placed her birth in 1911, putting her at 105 years old at the time of her death. However, this estimate was later theorized to have been based on mistaken information and more recent studies put her at 65–80 years old. [1] [2] [3] If she was 105, she would have been the oldest known orca at the time of her death. [4] [5] [6] [7] 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. [8] [2]

Contents

Description

The unique dorsal fin of J2 Granny, showing her half-moon notch, taken as she swam through Haro Strait in Washington State in 2007 J2Granny.jpg
The unique dorsal fin of J2 Granny, showing her half-moon notch, taken as she swam through Haro Strait in Washington State in 2007

Granny was recognizable from the gray "saddle patch" just behind her dorsal fin, and a half-moon notch in her fin. Simon Pidcock of Ocean EcoVentures said he had seen Granny thousands of times, and that the markings on orca fins were like fingerprints. [5]

Granny had been captured with the rest of her pod in 1967 but was too old at that time for a marine mammal park and was released. [9] [10]

Now that orca studies have been conducted for several decades, the exact age of many younger animals is known. The age of older orcas, such as Granny, is estimated by their offspring; they give birth around age 15, and stop having offspring around 40; by adding the generations together, ages can be estimated. [11] Granny was photographed in 1971 with a male orca, J1 Ruffles, who was believed at the time to be her son. Ruffles was estimated as at least 20 years old, and as scientists believed him to be Granny's last offspring, her own age was estimated at about 60. It was later discovered that Ruffles was not Granny's son, but her age estimate was never changed. [12] [3] Granny's age was originally estimated with a margin of error of 12 years, [13] but was the subject of an academic dispute in 2016 due to her original age being based on evidence now known to be incorrect, as well as a large disparity between the life expectancy of orcas with estimated ages and orcas with known ages. [12] Analysis of fatty acids from a recent biopsy of Granny indicated that Granny may have only been 65–80 years of age. [3]

J pod

Granny, along with several of her descendants, travelled in the J pod, a group of about 25 orcas. [14] J pod, along with Pods K and L, are the "J clan", which constitute the entire southern resident population. They frequent the inland waters of British Columbia and Washington state in the summer months, but roam from southeast Alaska to central California. They have completed a journey as far as 800 miles (1,300 km) in a week. [14] As the oldest female in J pod, Granny would have been considered its matriarch. [15]

A well-known male orca previously thought to be Granny's son is J1 Ruffles. He was last seen in late 2010. As of 2012, none of Granny's immediate children are known to be living. [15] However, Granny had multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren who travelled in the pod with her. [14]

The southern resident orcas are the most studied population of orcas in the world. Many in this population were captured in the 1960s and 1970s for use in aquariums and ocean parks, and others were killed by hunters attempting to capture them. [10] The southern resident orcas are the smallest of four resident communities from the northeastern portion of the Pacific Ocean. It is the only orca population listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and as of 2005 this group is protected under the Endangered Species Act. [16]

Legacy

As one of the longest living known orcas, Granny is employed as an example in arguments against keeping orcas in captivity, referencing the allegedly reduced lifespan of captive animals. [17] As of 2023, the oldest captive orca is Corky, who has been in captivity since 1969. The average lifespan for a captive orca is 20 to 30 years. [18]

Granny was also used as a focal point of environmental efforts that resulted in the Endangered Species Act protections for orca. Environmentalists estimate that Granny may have had a PCB load of up to 100 parts per million, and that her descendants' reproductive systems may have been damaged by exposure to pollution. [10] Granny was featured in a children's book on orcas by Sally Hodson titled Granny's Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas. [19]

Shortly after Granny's death was announced, BBC Radio 4's Inside Science discussed the insights into orcas and their social lives which the prolonged observations of Granny and her pod had revealed. [20]

Granny is the subject of a short documentary film. [21] The Hundred Year Old Whale was released in 2017 by filmmaker Mark Leiren-Young, the author of The Killer Whale Who Changed The World.

Orca lifespan

Estimates of lifespans for wild orcas vary. SeaWorld says wild lifespans are 30–50 years for females, and 19–30 years for males. [22] This is consistent with a 2021 study of the lifespans of wild north Pacific killer whales, with resident females living from 34-52 years and male residents living from 19-34 years on average. [23]

These estimates depart from the findings of a 2005 study, which pegged the mean age of females at 45.8 years and males at 31.0 during the period between 1973 and 1996. [24] Marine conservation groups argue that even these estimates are low due to the effects of hunting, pollution, and capture on the wild populations, and that natural wild orca lifespans are equivalent to that of humans, with male orcas living up to 75 years and female orcas living up to 80 years.[ citation needed ]

Orcas are one of the few species to exhibit menopause and Granny's great age gave her a chance to use her skills to enhance the reproductive success of her offspring (see Grandmother hypothesis).[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orca</span> Largest living species of dolphin

The orca, or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus and is recognizable by its black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, they are found in diverse marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas.

<i>Orcinus</i> Genus of oceanic mammals

Orcinus is a genus of Delphinidae, the family of carnivorous marine mammals known as dolphins. It includes the largest delphinid species, Orcinus orca, known as the orca or killer whale. Two extinct species are recognised, Orcinus paleorca and O. citoniensis, describing fossilised remains of the genus. The other extinct species O. meyeri is disputed.

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 in British Columbia up through Haida Gwaii 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corky (orca)</span> Captive female orca (born c.1965)

Corky II, often referred to as just Corky, is a female captive orca from the A5 Pod of northern resident orcas. At approximately the age of four, Corky was captured from Pender Harbour off the coast of British Columbia on 11 December 1969. She has lived at SeaWorld San Diego in San Diego, California since 21 January 1987. As of 2024, she is the oldest and longest kept captive orca. SeaWorld San Diego celebrates her birthday on 1st January every year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kasatka</span> Captive female orca (c.1976–2017)

Kasatka was a wild caught female orca who lived at SeaWorld San Diego.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Tom (orca)</span> Killer whale known to Australian whalers

Old Tom was a male orca who cooperated with and assisted whalers in the port of Eden, New South Wales, on the southeast coast of Australia. Old Tom was believed to be the leader of a pod of orcas which helped the whalers by herding baleen whales into Twofold Bay. This pod was also known as "the killers of Eden".

Namu was a male orca unintentionally captured in 1965 from the C1 Pod of the northern resident community. He was the first captive orca to perform with a human in the water. He was the subject of much media attention, including a starring role in the 1966 film Namu, the Killer Whale. Namu's captivity introduced thousands of people to orcas, and soon aquariums all over the world sought to establish captive orcas in their parks.

The A30 matriline is the name given to the most commonly seen orca matriline in British Columbia. The matriline is currently made of 3 generations, with a total of 12 individuals. It is one of the 3 matrilines in A1 pod, one of the 10 pods of the A-clan. The matriline was present in over 60% of all of the encounters in the Johnstone Strait region, making it one of the best known matrilines. The group's size has increased, from 6 in the mid-1970s to 10 as of 2013 then 12 in 2017. It is most frequently seen in Johnstone Strait from late spring to early fall, often traveling with other pods of the Northern Resident Community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captive orcas</span> Orcas held in confinement

Dozens of orcas are held in captivity for breeding or performance purposes. The practice of capturing and displaying orcas in exhibitions began in the 1960s, and they soon became popular attractions at public aquariums and aquatic theme parks due to their intelligence, trainability, striking appearance, playfulness, and sheer size. As of 24 March 2024, around 55 orcas are in captivity worldwide, 33 of which were captive-born. At that time, there were 18 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Bigg</span> Canadian marine biologist

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, off British Columbia and Washington, conducted the first population census of the animals anywhere in the world. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern resident orcas</span> Community of orcas in the North Pacific Ocean

The southern resident orcas, also known as the southern resident killer whales (SRKW), are the smallest of four communities of the exclusively fish-eating ecotype of orca in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The southern resident orcas form a closed society with no emigration or dispersal of individuals, and no gene flow with other orca populations. The fish-eating ecotype was historically given the name 'resident,' but other ecotypes named 'transient' and 'offshore' are also resident in the same area.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan (orca)</span> Female orca (born c. 2007)

Morgan is a female orca who was rescued in the Wadden Sea, off the northwestern coast of the Netherlands in June 2010. She was found in an unhealthy condition, severely underweight and malnourished. She lived several months at the Dolfinarium Harderwijk in the Netherlands. After it became clear that the basin at Dolfinarium was too small, multiple options were considered, including releasing Morgan and transferring her to another facility. Over a year later, after litigation and debate between scientists, a Dutch court ruled that she was to be moved. Morgan was transported to the Loro Parque in Spain in November 2011.

Tahlequah, also known as J35, is a killer whale of the southern resident community in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. She has given birth to three known offspring, a male (Notch) in 2010, a female (Tali) in 2018, and another male (Phoenix) in 2020. Her second calf, Tali, died shortly after birth and J35 carried her body for 17 days in an apparent show of grief that attracted international attention.

Northern resident orcas, also known as northern resident killer whales (NRKW), are one of four separate, non-interbreeding communities of the exclusively fish-eating ecotype of orca in the northeast portion of the North Pacific Ocean. They live primarily off the coast of British Columbia (BC), Canada, and also travel to southeastern Alaska and northern Washington state in the United States. The northern resident population consists of three clans that consists of several pods with one or more matrilines within each pod. The northern residents are genetically distinct from the southern resident orcas and their calls are also quite distinct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orca types and populations</span>

Orcas or killer whales have a cosmopolitan distribution and several distinct populations or types have been documented or suggested. Three to five types of orcas may be distinct enough to be considered different races, subspecies, or possibly even species. The IUCN reported in 2008, "The taxonomy of this genus is clearly in need of review, and it is likely that O. orca will be split into a number of different species or at least subspecies over the next few years." Although large variation in the ecological distinctiveness of different orca groups complicate simple differentiation into types. Mammal-eating orcas in different regions were long thought likely to be closely related, but genetic testing has refuted this hypothesis.

Few animals have a menopause: humans are joined by just four other species in which females live substantially longer than their ability to reproduce. The others are all cetaceans: beluga whales, narwhals, orcas and short-finned pilot whales. There are various theories on the origin and process of the evolution of menopause. These attempt to suggest evolutionary benefits to the human species stemming from the cessation of women's reproductive capability before the end of their natural lifespan. Explanations can be categorized as adaptive and non-adaptive:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salish Sea orcas</span> Populations of whales off North America

The waters of the Salish Sea, on the west coast of North America, are home to several ecologically distinct populations of orcas. The area supports three major ecotypes of orcas: northern residents, southern residents, and transients. A fourth ecotype, the offshore orcas, occasionally venture into nearshore waters. Little to no interaction occurs between the different ecotypes. Resident and transient orcas have not been observed interbreeding, although occasional brief interactions occur.

References

  1. ↑ "Oldest Puget Sound Orca, 'Granny,' Missing and Presumed Dead". abcnews.go.com. ABC News. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  2. 1 2 Tegna. "Oldest Southern Resident killer whale considered dead". KING5.com. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Podt, Annemieke (December 31, 2016). "Orca Granny: was she really 105?" . Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  4. ↑ Bender, Kelli. "Granny, World's Oldest Orca, Returns to Home Waters at 103 Years Old : People.com Mobile". People.com . Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Luba, Frank (May 12, 2014). "B.C.'s matriarch orca 'Granny' is still going strong at 103". Theprovince.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  6. ↑ Ellison, Jake (May 12, 2014). "Oldest living orca 'Granny' visits NW over Mother's Day weekend – The Big Science Blog". Blog.seattlepi.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Orca 'Granny,' 103, comes home for Mother's Day – British Columbia". CBC.ca. CBC News. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Center for Whale Research". Center for Whale Research. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Hi Granny! World's oldest wild orca spotted off BC coast is probably older than your granny". TechTimes.com. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 Lyke, M. L. (October 14, 2006). "Granny's Struggle: When Granny is gone, will her story be the last chapter? –". seattlepi.com. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  11. ↑ Ohlheiser, Abby. "Spotted: Granny, the 103-Year-Old Killer Whale and Her Family". The Wire. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  12. 1 2 Robeck, Todd R.; Willis, Kevin; Scarpuzzi, Michael R.; O'Brien, Justine K. (March 8, 2016). "Survivorship pattern inaccuracies and inappropriate anthropomorphism in scholarly pursuits of killer whale ( Orcinus orca ) life history: a response to Franks et al. (2016)". Journal of Mammalogy . 97 (3): 899–905. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyw023. PMC   6377038 . PMID   30793711.
  13. ↑ "Killer whale named 'Granny', who at 105-years-old is older than the Titanic, spotted in Pacific". The Telegraph. August 5, 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 Ford, John K. B.; Ellis, Graeme M.; Balcomb, Kenneth C. (1996). Killer Whales: The Natural History and Genealogy of Orcinus Orca in British Columbia. UBC Press. ISBN   9780774844307.
  15. 1 2 Douglas, John (2012). "The Resident Orcas Of J-Pod".
  16. ↑ "Killer whale (Orcinus orca)". NOAA. October 5, 2022.
  17. ↑ Kirby, David (July 17, 2012). Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity. Macmillan. ISBN   9781250002020.
  18. ↑ Petrescu, Sarah (May 14, 2014). "World's oldest known killer whale seen off B.C. coast". Calgary Herald . Times Colonist . Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  19. ↑ Hodson, Sally (2012). Granny's clan: a tale of wild orcas (1st ed.). Nevada City, CA: Dawn Publications. ISBN   9781584691716.
  20. ↑ Presenter: Adam Rutherford; Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker (January 5, 2017). "RIP Granny the oldest Orca – Graphene + Silly Putty – Moving a Giant Magnet – Space in 2017". Inside Science. 0:55 minutes in. BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  21. ↑ "The Hundred Year Old Whale". IMDB. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Lifespan". SeaWorld Cares.
  23. ↑ Nielsen, M.L.K.; Ellis, S.; Towers, J.R. (2021). "A long post-reproductive lifespan is a shared trait among genetically distinct killer whale populations". Ecology and Evolution.
  24. ↑ Olesiuk, Peter F.; Ellis, Graeme M.; Ford, John K.B. (2005). "Life History and Population Dynamics of Northern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in British Columbia" (PDF). Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.