September 10th - T-party and humpbacks in the Strait!
On September 10th we had a very exciting encounter - we had a T-party with the T037A’s and the T100’s! A T-party is when multiple orca pods come together and socialize with each other. These are always absolutely amazing to witness. The T037A’s is a fairly large pod, currently consisting of six members: matriarch Volker (T37A), Inyo (T37A1), Inky (T37A2), Spinnaker (T37A3), Crinkle (T37A4), and T37A5. Volker is a very successful and fairly young mother - born in 1994, she is only 26 years old and she already has 5 very healthy offspring! The T100’s is a smaller pod consisting of four members: matriarch Hutchins (T100), Laurel (T100C), Tharaya (T001E), and Estrella (T100F). Hutchins is significantly older (born 1978, making her 42 now) and currently travels with her third, fifth, and sixth born offspring.
Volker’s calf rearing success may actually be because of her youth. Giving birth while young means she has fewer years of PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) buildup in her system, meaning less toxins are passed on to her offspring while they are calves while they are nursing. PCBs are stored in the fat of the body, which is converted into milk while the females are lactating.
PCBs were commonly used in all sorts of products ranging from refrigerators to microscope oils from the 1920’s to the mid 1980’s in Canada. While PCBs are now illegal to produce, there are still pieces of equipment that contain them that are allowed to be used until the end of their service life. PCBs can still be found all over our planet - in our air, in our water, and in our soil. Some PCBs have very long half lives (estimated around 133 years for Aroclor 1254). A half life describes how long it takes for a substance to decompose 50% or half of its original size. This means it may take over 250 years for certain PCBs to fully break down in our environment - woah!
Our orca are very susceptible to PCBs because they are apex predators (they are at the top of the food chain). PCBs can bioaccumulate all the way up the chain through fish and other marine mammals such as seals and sealions, reaching dangerous levels once they are in the orca’s tissue.
After leaving the T-party, we also spotted two humpbacks nicknamed Fader (BCY0195) and Split Fluke (BCX1068) travelling through the Strait of Georgia. Split Fluke has been spotted travelling with many other individuals this year - she is a confirmed female who had a calf with her just last year. Humpbacks are typically spotted travelling solo, so to see one particular whale making friends with so many other individuals is very interesting!
Check out these photos by Naturalist Cheyenne!
From left to right: Laurel (T100C), Estrella (T100F), and Tharaya (T00E)
The underside of Laurel (T100C')’s fluke
Playing around
Split Fluke (BCX1068)’s fluke
Fader (BCY0195)’s fluke
Look, ma! No hands!