September 24, 2023 - Orca vs Humpback Showdown
When we leave on a whale watching tour we never know exactly what we are going to find or what the animals will be doing when we watch them. We only get a hour long glimpse into the lives of these animals, and since they go through a wide array of different behaviours throughout the day it keeps things interesting, making every trip very different.
Today was an interesting case, since we ended up seeing both humpback whales and orca in close proximity. When these two species are found close together, usually it’s not a happy affair. Transient orca are mammal eaters, and are known for attacking or harassing humpback whales, especially if there is a sick or younger individual present. The humpbacks are no wimps though, since they are very much fighters, and they sometimes will be the ones to instigate these negative interactions. Then sometimes when we see them close together, they don’t seem to care about each other at all. If you ask the different boats what sort of behaviour they saw during the close interaction you might get some different answers.
When these animals were first found there seemed to be some issues that the humpbacks were having with the orca being so close, and they wanted to let the orca know that they weren’t to be messed with. This caused some of the humpbacks to start putting on displays of power, with pectoral slapping, tail slaps, and some vocalizations called Trumpeting! This is a good warning that the humpbacks are getting defensive. The orca didn’t seem to like this much and headed in the humpbacks direction, seeming to be chasing them around and being aggressive towards them. This can be dangerous for an orca since the humpbacks are much, much bigger than the orca are! One wrong hit from the tail or pectoral fin of a humpback whale can mean a lot of damage for the orca.
This carried on for a little while, before a couple of the humpbacks got tired of it, and starting moving quickly away from the group. The orca then followed them, leaving the rest of the humpbacks behind. The humpbacks and orca that left then also split, and continued on their separate ways.
After that it seemed that all was normal, the humpbacks continued doing their thing and the orca travelled on like nothing happened. If you came at the end of this interaction you might not have even known what was happening just minutes before!
This interaction was quite chaotic, and we didn’t manage to ID every individual involved or which role they had played in this, but we know the following humpbacks and orca were all there at some point:
Humpbacks:
Orca:
T002C Tasu ♀ (1989)
T002C1 Rocky ♂ (2002)
T002C3 Lucy ♀ (2011)
T002C5 (2020)
T059 ♀ (<1970)
T059A2 (2009)
T059A4 (2017)
T124D Field ♀ (1996)
T124D Salish II (2014)
T124D3 (2022)
These interactions are usually quite exciting, but also quite rare, so seeing it is always super interesting and important for research. All of our sightings including IDs, behaviour, and location are shared with researchers all over BC and contribute to learning more about these amazing animals!
Today’s naturalists Aly Kohlman, Cheyenne Brewster, and Vanessa Vereschahen all got some great photos from today’s trip, all of which can be viewed below!
The underside of Vanta’s tail fluke. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
The underside of Nalu’s tail. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Nalu travelling in front of Vanta. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Vanta’s dorsal fin as they prepared to dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Nalu lifted their tail to dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The underside of Nail’s Tail Fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Nike going for a dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The top side of Nike’s tail as he dives. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The underside of Velvet’s tail fluke as they dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T124D Field behind T059A2. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T124D Field surfacing with other Matriarch T002C Tasu. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T002C Tasu surfacing with T124D3 in behind. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The whole family swimming away from the boat. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T124D1 Salish II surfacing through the waves. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Two humpbacks surfacing on the left with likely T002C1 Rocky on the right. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
T002C Tasu surfacing. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
T002C1 Rock surfacing with a wave crashing on him, revealing his white eye patch. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
T002C5, T059A4, T124D Field, and T002C3 Lucy. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
The two matriarchs, T124D Field and T002C Tasu. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
T002C1 Rocky surfacing with others coming towards the camera. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T002C1 Rocky surfacing with a good look at the scarring on his saddle patch. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T124D3 surfacing, preparing to dive. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T002C1 Rocky swimming away with some others. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Cormorants on the white Islets. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
A big male Steller Sea Lion playing king of the castle. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Harbour seals content on the rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A half wet little harbour seal. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Some Harbour Seals posing on the rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
An itchy California Sea Lion near Harmac. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Steller Sea Lion on the logs. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A California Sea Lion in a very awkward pose. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A sleepy sea lion. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A great blue Heron prowling for fish on the docks. Photo by Aly Kohlman.