May 22nd 3:30 PM - The Alaskan Brothers near home

We left the harbour with the plan of relocating our whales from the morning but were surprised by a closer-to-home pod of whales. The Alaskan brothers T128 and T125A, Flotsam and Jetsam were cruising by our harbour. We found the brothers near Duke point and followed them as they travelled out around Protection Island. These 2 brothers have been spending more and more time in our neck of the woods, giving us plenty of opportunities to watch them and snap some great photos.
Did you know Flotsam and Jetsam are named after Ursula’s henchmen in The Little Mermaid. Flotsam and Jetsam are also terms for ocean debris that has been discarded from vessels. This is likely where Ursula’s henchmen received their nicknames from.

Alaskan brothers. photo by Keagan Sjoile

The Alaskan brothers are a bit of an odd pod. Not only do these boys travel away from their mom, who is still alive, but Flotsam doesn’t share a number with them, and they have potentially 2 other brothers who don’t share numbers. All our orca have numbers associated with them, Flotsam is T128 and Jetsam is T125A, which help researchers to track individuals because common names change and different areas may have different nicknames for the whales. When it comes to orca, these numbers also help us track their maternal lineage. Jetsam, being T125A, we know is the offspring of T125, who doesn't have a nickname at this time. The “A” in his name would usually signify that Jetsam is T125’s first offspring. However, in this case that’s not quite true.

When our orcas were being cataloged for the first time, as they were encountered they received numbers. T125 was likely the 125th matriarch encountered during the cataloguing process. Based on the fact that T125A, Jetsam, is listed as her first offspring, and they were born in 1998, it’s likely T125 was first cataloged in the early 90’s. She was estimated to be in her late teens by this time, at least, resulting in her birth year being listed as <1979.

This is where things get interesting. Sometime after T125 and Jetsam were cataloged and numbered, T127 joined the family. This large male was already a full-grown adult and had been cataloged alone, resulting in his unique number. He was clearly older than Flotsam and didn’t seem eager to leave the family any time soon, leading to the assumption that T127 Hacksaw, was actually Jetsam’s older brother. Being an adult male, his birth year was estimated around 1984 by the researchers. Then came Flotsam. Flotsam was cataloged after Hacksaw, Jetsam and mom, receiving the number T128. However, Flotsam’s birth year is listed as 1988, suggesting they cataloged him as a calf or very young whale. We aren’t sure exactly why his number doesn’t correlate to his mom’s and aren’t sure whether he was still travelling with his mom when his younger brother was born, but so far we have a rough timeline. Hacksaw was the oldest brother, Flotsam the second oldest and Jetsam the youngest.

Family tree of the T125 Matrilineal excluding T126 who is deceased.

But wait, there’s more! Apparently, it is believed that these 3 boys had another brother, T126. T126 is no longer with us, but if it were true, it would mean that T125 is older than listed. T126 is estimated to be born around 1974, suggesting that T125 was at least a ~12 years old when they were born, making T125’s birth year closer to 1962 or earlier. This would make her one of the oldest females in our waters at around 60 years old!

Sometime after Hacksaw rejoined mom, these boys decided they’d rather travel alone and left her and their eldest brother’s side to cruise the Salish Sea solo. We have several solo males that wonder the sea, a few lone females, but not many brother duos, especially brother duos who have a living mom.

Now, because we don’t genetically test our whales, we have no concrete evidence that these whales are related, just an assumption because they travel together exclusively. At the end of the day, whether they are blood brothers or just best friends, the Alaskan brothers are a fantastic sight to see. Enjoy the photos taken during today’s tour by Keagan Sjoile and Rebecca Stirling.

Nanaimo Vancouver Island whale watch Gabriola Island Flotsam Jetsam Orca Killer Whale Alaska Boys Brothers T128 T125A — Jetsam, Idable by the large chunk missing from the centre of his fin. photo by Keagan Sjoile

Steller sea lions on Entrance Island. photo by Keagan Sjoile

Pacific harbour seals. photo by Keagan Sjoile

Jilann LechnerMay 30, 2022Comment