April 19th - Orcas at Gibsons!

On April 19th, we travelled across the Strait of Georgia to find the T49A’s and T49B’s at Gibson’s Harbour near the Sunshine Coasts. T49A’s consist of Nan (T49A) and her children Noah (T49A1), Judy (T49A2), Nat (T49A3), T49A4 and T49A5. T49A was born in 1986, making her 35 years old. Female killer whales typically live about 50 years, although individuals have been seen to live about 80-100 years in the wild. Male killer whales have a shorter lifespan where they live about 29 years but have been seen to live 50-60 years in the wild. Nan has had 5 kids, where her oldest child Noah was born in 2001, Judy born in 2007, Nan born in 2011, T49A4 in 2014 and her most recent child T49A5 in 2017. Killer whales can reproduce until they’re about 40 years of age, which is when they go through menopause. Killer whales are one of the 3 species along with pilot whales and humans to go through menopause.

Females become mature at about 15 years of age and typically reproduce every 3-10 years. Their gestation period is quite long where it ranges from 15-18 months. Females typically produce about 5 calves in their lifetime. Males become mature when they’re about 20 years of age and is noticeable since their dorsal fin becomes quite large. Their dorsal fin starts to grow taller and straighter when they’re about 12-15 years of age. All of Nan’s children excluding T49A5 are males and if you take a look at their dorsal fins, only Noah has a very large straight dorsal fin so far. Noah is 20 years old while the others are younger than 14. Their dorsal fins will start to grow soon.

Nan’s younger sister, T49B (Van) and her pod was also travelling with them. Van’s pod consists of her and her two children Skyler (T49B2) who is 11 years old and Charchar (T49B3) who is 8 years old. They have a younger brother called Janet (T49C) as well but he was not seen with them today. The two pods were really active as we observed them playing as they were doing lots of chin slaps and high dives. Check out the amazing pictures our marine naturalist Val took below;

Skyler (T49B2).

From left to right: Noah (T49A1), Van (T49B) and Nan (T49A).

Skyler (T49B2) (right) swimming with his auntie Nan (T49A).

T49A5 with a rake mark given to her from another killer whale (most likely from mom disciplining her child).

T49A4 swimming along.

Quick little peak out of the water!

T49A5 (left) and mom (right).

Nan (left) and T49A4 (right).

A common loon swimming along.

Some Pigeon guillemot’s in the water.