It was another wonderful afternoon as we made our way out of the Nanaimo harbour and set off to the Strait of Georgia in search of some whales. We cruised up the Nanaimo coast hoping to find an orca duo we had spotted earlier in the day. Orcas can travel over 100 kilometres every single day, so we always have our fingers crossed that we’ll find them again in the afternoon! We always know that just because we were lucky enough to encounter them on one tour, it doesn’t mean we will have that same luck on the next tour. However, lady luck was on our side today as we spotted big black fins breaking the surface of the water north of Nanaimo. The two whales we caught up with were unfamiliar orca in our area, a brother/sister pair named Sequoia and Salix.

T030A Sequoia ♂ (1986)
T030C Salix ♀ (2005)

Orca are matriarchal, which means that females are the leaders. Bigg’s Killer Whales often travel in small family groups where the eldest female (usually mom or grandma) is the head of the family. Her years of accumulated knowledge are extremely important when it comes to the survival of her family. So what happens when she passes away? A study looking at one of the fish-eating orca populations in our area, the Southern Resident Killer Whales, uncovered that when a post-reproductive female died, her daughters were 5 times more likely to die within the following year. Even more shocking was that her sons were 14 times more likely to die the year after mom’s passing. In other words, female orcas are incredibly important to their families long after they stop producing calves. Seeing this brother/sister combo today, the question becomes “Where is mom?”.

The matriarch Elwha has not been seen in over 2 years. Though she has not been deemed “presumed deceased” yet, it’s a real possibility that she has passed. So what does this mean for Sequoia and Salix? Unfortunately, no similar studies have been conducted with Bigg’s killer whales about the mortality rate of orcas after their mother passes, so we don’t really have the answer. These two have likely already survived past the one-year mark of Elwha’s death, which is great news. This information leads us to question this unlikely duo. Is Salix now the leader of this tiny family? Or are brother and sister sharing equal leadership roles, more like a partnership? Whatever the answer, it seems that the two were well-fed and healthy as they continued on their journey north. We left them to their travels and continued on to see who else we could find today.

We headed back towards Nanaimo and stumbled on a completely different duo, Stingray (BCZ0409) and Geometry (BCZ0338). These 2 adult humpbacks have been foraging together for several days now. Unlike the orca we encountered earlier, the relationship that Geometry and Stingray have formed is most likely temporary. Humpbacks do not travel in family groups. A female will travel with her calf for up to a year and then they will continue their lives separately. Before we left our gentle giants one more humpback, youngster Wisp (BCX1333 calf 2021) came in to join in on the fun.

Other animals we were fortunate enough to see on our trips today were Gulls, Cormorants and Harbour Seals! You can check out the photos from this incredible trip below! All photos were taken by onboard Naturalists Lucy Wilson and Hayleigh Hilbert.

August 14, 2024, 3:30 pm - Double Stuff

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