August 22nd 3:30PM - Indy the Orca
This afternoon was spent with a lone orca off the coast of Gibson. This little whale was ID’d as Indy, previously known as Elsie before they were confirmed a male. Indy is known to marine naturalists as T065A5, the 5th born offspring to T065A Artemis. At only 8 years old little Indy hasn’t yet hit puberty and in most cases would still be travelling with his mom, however, we’ve seen several young males, and even a few females, out travelling solo in the Salish Sea over the last few years.
Normally young male orca will disperse from their moms temporarily after starting puberty. We like to call this their “rebellious teenage phase”. Jude (T049A2) is a prime example, as he dispersed with his brother last year, and has remained away from his mom to date. Indy may be taking a page from Jude’s book, though he’s started his teenage phase a bit earlier. In most cases, these boys return to their moms’ side eventually, but sometimes they decide to remain solo. On odd occasions, young females are known to disperse before they have calves of their own, which is typically when they disperse from their family pods. 2 great examples are T037A1 and T034A1. T037A1 Inyo is the first born female to T037A Volker. Inyo dispersed from her moms’ side a few years ago and now travels with whichever pod she wants to. We saw her earlier this year travelling with an Alaskan male known as Young. T034A1 is a very odd case, as she dispersed from her moms’ side at only 2 years old!
Indy has always been a rebellious boy, often getting into sticky situations and making local headlines. We’re curious to see if he will continue to travel the seas alone or if he will return to his moms’ side eventually. On this particular day there were reports of him chasing and hunting birds, likely for fun, as well he was seen hunting a seal that was trying to enjoy some very fresh sushi.
During our time with him he was pec slapping, tail slapping, spy hopping and even breaching, which is not an overly common behaviour amongst orca.
Photos by Marine Naturalists by Aly Kohlman.
Nose! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Making a splash. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Indy (T065A5). Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Indy (T065A5). Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Indy (T065A5) - you can tell this orca is a male because of the black marking in the middle of their white patch. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Indy (T065A5). Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Indy (T065A5). Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.