Mystery killer whales spotted by scientists off coast of Chile 'likely to be new species'

Enigmatic orcas 'could be the largest undescribed animal left on the planet', say marine researchers

Chris Baynes

A killer whale that could be a new species is to be studied by scientists for the first time after it was seen off the coast of southern Chile.

A team of international researchers have collected genetic samples from a group of orcas roaming the sub-Antarctic waters off the tip of South America.

For decades, fishermen and tourists had returned with tales and even photos of killer whales in the region that look distinctly different from others. But the enigmatic marine mammals had eluded scientists until now.

The team encountered the killer whales – known only as “Type D” – while anchored off Cape Horn for a week waiting for storms to pass in January.

Scientists collected three biopsy samples from the pod, and biologists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are now conducting laboratory tests that will establish if the orcas are a new species.

Watch video and read on

Orca mother finally abandons dead calf she carried for more than two weeks

Researchers say endangered killer whale who lives off the coast of Seattle is back to feeding and frolicking with her pod

Guardian staff and agencies

Mon 13 Aug 2018 01.32 BSTLast modified on Mon 13 Aug 2018 10.02 BST

Researchers say an endangered killer whale that carried her dead calf on her head for more than two weeks has finally abandoned the calf’s body and is back to feeding and frolicking with her pod.

The Center for Whale Research in Washington state says it watched the orca, known as J35, chase a school of salmon in Haro Strait west of San Juan Island, between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, on Saturday afternoon.

J35’s calf died soon after birth on 24 July. The mother carried the baby on her head for at least 17 days, in an image of grief that struck an emotional chord worldwide.

She finally abandoned the carcass as it decomposed.

Center for Whale Research founder Ken Balcomb said he was immensely relieved to see J35 returning to typical behavior.

Three years have passed since an orca residing in the area has birthed a surviving calf. In the past 20 years, 40 orcas have been born into the group while 72 have died. Only 75 killer whales in the endangered group, known as southern resident orcas, remain.

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Scientists witness first reported case of killer-whale infanticide

‘His blubber shook like Jell-o,’ says researcher of the attack on newborn orca by unrelated 32-year-old male

Ashifa Kassam in Toronto

 @ashifa_k

Fri 23 Mar 2018 07.00 GMT Last modified on Fri 23 Mar 2018 07.41 GMT

Scientists in the Canadian province of British Columbia have documented what is believed to be the first reported case of an orca whale killing an infant of the same species.

“We knew right away that this was a remarkable event,” said Jared Towers, a Cetacean researcher with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, of the encounter he and two colleagues witnessed in December 2016.

“We’ve been looking at killer whales for years on this coast and around the world – I study populations in different parts of the world – and witnessing aggressive behaviour between killer whales is almost unheard of.”

Details of the incident were published this week in the journal Scientific Reports.The group had headed out to the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island after reports of strange vocalisations from killer whales in the area. When they arrived, they found a group of whales including one that appeared to be just a few hours old.

They were about to leave when they heard splashing. “So we went over and that’s when we saw that the calf wasn’t surfacing anywhere,” said Towers. They then saw a male swim under their boat holding the newborn calf in his mouth.

Researchers soon realised they were watching two different family groups interact –the family to which the calf belonged was being attacked by an unrelated 32-year-old male and his mother. “We started to realise that this is a chase and these two whales have attacked this group already,” he said. “It was fascinating but we were horrified too.”

The male refused to let go of the newborn. In what researchers described as “infanticidal teamwork,” his mother appeared to be helping him in the attack, manoeuvring to fend off an attempt by the infant’s mother to chase the male.

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The killer whale that can say 'hello' and 'bye bye'

By Helen BriggsBBC News

30 January 2018

A killer whale that can mimic words such as "hello" and "bye bye" is thought to be the first of its kind to copy human speech.

The female learned to "speak" a handful of human words by copying a trainer at a marine park in France.

The animal's repertoire includes the name "Amy" and "one, two, three".

Whales and dolphins are among the few animals other than humans that can learn to produce a novel sound just by hearing it.

"In mammals it is very rare," said Dr Josep Call of the University of St Andrews, a co-researcher on the study.

"Humans obviously are good at it... Interestingly, the mammals that can do best are marine mammals."

The researchers set out to find out whether killer whales could learn new vocalisations by imitating others. They studied a female named Wikie at Marineland Aquarium in Antibes, France.

She was taught to speak human words through her blowhole and can be heard in recordings mimicking words such as hello and Amy, and counting one, two, three, using squawks, shrill whistles or raspberries.

Read on 

SeaWorld's matriarch 42-year-old killer whale is euthanized, the second orca death to hit the marine parks in a month

Kasatka, a 42-year-old orca was euthanized at SeaWorld Tuesday 

She had battled a lung disease for years and her health took a turn for the worse

The killer whale was one of the last to be captured in the wild for SeaWorld

Criticism and pressure have mounted on SeaWorld's care of orcas which has led them to promising to end the whales' performances by 2019

The entertainment company also ended its breeding program in 2016 under pressure from animal rights groups and activists 

Pressure reached a pinnacle when the 2013 documentary titled 'Blackfish' was released criticizing SeaWorlds' care of orcas 

By Jessica Finn For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

PUBLISHED: 02:00, 17 August 2017 | UPDATED: 04:19, 17 August 2017

One of the last killer whales caught in captivity for SeaWorld was euthanized in San Diego, making her the second orca death at the marine parks in a month.

The whale named Kasatka was put down Tuesday evening after battling a lung disease for years.

SeaWorld says Kasatka was 'surrounded by members of her pod, as well as the veterinarians and caretakers who loved her,' when she died. 

Read more: 

'Shocking' levels of PCB chemicals in UK killer whale Lulu

By Rebecca Morelle Science Correspondent, BBC News


2 May 2017

One of the UK's last killer whales was contaminated with "shocking" levels of a toxic chemical, scientists say.

The animal, called Lulu, was found dead on the Isle of Tiree in Scotland last year after becoming entangled in fishing lines.

But tests now reveal her body contained among the highest levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, ever recorded.

The chemicals were banned from the 1970s but are still in the environment.

Researchers now fear that other animals in Lulu's pod also have similarly high levels of contamination. The group, which is found off the west coast of Scotland, is thought to consist of just eight animals.

Dr Andrew Brownlow, head of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and veterinary pathologist at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), told BBC News that Lulu had "shocking levels of PCBs".

He said: "The levels of PCB contamination in Lulu were incredibly high, surprisingly so. They were 20 times higher than the safe level that we would expect for cetaceans to be able to manage.

"That puts her as one of the most contaminated animals on the planet in terms of PCB burden, and does raise serious questions for the long-term survivability of this group (of UK killer whales)."



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World's oldest known killer whale Granny dies

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News


3 January 2017
 

The world's oldest known killer whale, affectionately known as Granny, is missing and presumed dead, researchers say.

Estimated to be over 100 years old, the matriarch's official name was J2.

She was the focal point of a recent BBC documentary that followed biologists' study of her clan of orcas, an effort to unravel an evolutionary mystery.

Studying female orcas, which live long beyond their reproductive years, has revealed insights into the menopause.
Menopause mystery

Only three mammals are known to experience menopause - orcas, short-finned pilot whales and humans. Even our closest ape cousins, chimpanzees, do not go through it. Their fertility peters out with age and, in the wild, they seldom live beyond childbearing years.

Following Granny and other matriarch killer whales has shown their crucial role within the family group. They guide the pod as it forages, take care of other females' young calves and even feed the larger males.

These post-reproductive female leaders help their families to survive, and the advantage they offer could show what drives a species to evolve to stop reproducing. 

 

read on 

Meet Granny: At 105, she’s the world’s oldest killer whale

AUGUST 9, 2016

by Chuck Bednar

A killer whale estimated to be 105 years old, meaning that it was born a year before the Titanic sank, is apparently alive and well after being spotted off the coast of Washington.

Officially known as J2 but affectionately nicknamed “Granny,” the whale was seen swimming with other orcas in the Salish Sea and near San Juan Island’s False Bay near Washington state on July 27, the Daily Mail and Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported earlier this month.

Granny, which was first spotted in 1971 when she was an estimated 60 years old, is believed to be the matriarch of a group of whales in the northern Pacific Ocean. Though experts believe she is 105, there is a 12 year margin of error about her age, meaning she could be only 93 years old – which still far exceeds the typical orca lifespan of between 60 and 80 years.

Experts from Ocean EcoVentures explained to the Daily Mail that they were able to identify J2 thanks to special markings on her dorsal fin and a notch shaped like a half-moon, and in a recent blog post, they said that she and her group, the Southern Resident Killer Whales, had spent a few weeks foraging and travelling through the Strait of Georgia near British Columbia.

How experts determined Granny’s age (and why she’s not all that unusual)

According to the author of that blog post, Simon Pidcock, Granny “has been swimming pretty much non-stop for over 100 years. The Southern Residents on average travel about 72 miles in a 24-hour period day in, day out. This means in Granny’s lifetime she has swam around the world the equivalent of a 100 times.”

The earliest pictures of J2 were from 1967, according to Pidcock, and whale researchers believe that she has been alive since 1911. In 1976, she was spotted travelling with a mature bull known as “Ruffles” due to the trailing edge of his dorsal fin. Ruffles was thought to be the only survivor among Granny’s offspring, as these whales typically remain with their mothers for life.

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Campaigners call for release of SeaWorld-owned wild-born killer whale in Tenerife

The orca captured off the Dutch coast and now performing shows should be released into a sea pen, say animal rights activists

 By Senay Boztas, Amsterdam

4:54PM GMT 22 Mar 2016

Calls are growing for the release of a wild-born killer whale who performs to British tourists in Tenerife in the wake of a decision by America's SeaWorld to stop breeding and end “theatrical shows”.

The director of a new short film on Morgan – an orca born wild, captured off the Dutch coast – has called for her to be released into a sea pen or sanctuary.

Heiko Grimm, director of the short film ‘I am Morgan – Stolen Freedom’, believes the orca, who belongs to SeaWorld, was considered valuable as she potentially introduced a new blood line to widely in-bred orcas. “The whole situation could now change for Morgan with SeaWorld’s latest announcement to stop their breeding programme,” he said.

“Because of that, Morgan is not essential for SeaWorld any more. Additionally Morgan is a good candidate for a sea pen or sea-sanctuary because she was born in the wild…Can the last part of her ‘capture, rehabilitation and release’-permit now be fulfilled? I believe so.”

         

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Ripe Old Age: SeaWorld's Killer Whale Tilikum Near Death at 35

by Laura Geggel, Staff Writer   |   March 09, 2016 06:22pm ET

The killer whale named Tilikum, who made headlines after killing his trainer at SeaWorld in 2010, has a respiratory infection that may ultimately take the orca's life, at age 35. But compared with its counterparts in the wild, the aquarium showstopper has lived a long time, experts say.

Tilikum's health has declined during the past few weeks, likely because of a drug-resistant bacterial infection in his lungs, officials said.

"Tilikum's behavior has become increasingly lethargic, and the SeaWorld veterinary and animal care teams are concerned that his health is beginning to deteriorate," SeaWorld Cares said in the statement. 

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Peta sues Miami aquarium to demand release of Lolita the killer whale

Animal rights groups condemn orca’s 40 years in captivity at the Miami Seaquarium, leaving her unable to ‘carry out virtually any natural behaviors’

Reuters in Miami

Monday 20 July 2015 21.21 BSTLast modified on Monday 20 July 201521.49 BST

Animal rights groups seeking the release of Lolita, a killer whale in captivity since 1970, sued the Miami Seaquarium and its parent company Palace Entertainment on Monday saying her conditions violate the Endangered Species Act.

“For more than 40 years, Lolita has been unable to swim any meaningful distance, dive, forage, or carry out virtually any natural behaviors,” said the complaint, filed in the southern district of Florida by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).

Activists have long bemoaned her tank, which measures 80ft (24 meters) long, 60ft (18 meters) wide and 20ft (6 meters) deep, as one of the smallest whale enclosures in the world. She has also been without another orca since 1980 when her tank mate, Hugo, died, the complaint added.

The federal government cleared a path for the lawsuit earlier this year after adding the 7,000lb orca to the endangered species list.

Lolita, who performs seven days a week, was captured in the summer of 1970 off the coast of Washington state when she was between three and six years old, according to court documents.

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Lolita the killer whale closer to freedom with inclusion on endangered list

Sunday 25 January 2015 20.10 GMT

Lolita, a killer whale that has lived in a tank at Miami’s Seaquarium for 44 years, could move a step closer to freedom this week.

After decades of campaigning, animal rights activists hope US officials will include the orca on a list of endangered whales that frequent the waters where she was captured, off Washington state. That decision could trigger a lawsuit by activists who want to fly 7,000lbs (3.2-tonne) Lolita across the country and prepare her for release into the wild.

About 1,000 protesters gathered outside the Seaquarium this month to demand the release of Lolita, who performs in shows seven days a week and was the subject of the 2003 video documentary Lolita: Slave to Entertainment. Officials at Miami Seaquarium, where the orca has lived since 1970, say the release plan is dangerous and Lolita would not survive in the wild after so many years in captivity.

Read more ...

Killer whale pod rallies around orca trapped in fisherman's net

Co-owner of whale-watching firm describes race against time near Port Hardy

By Rhiannon Coppin, CBC News Posted: Aug 23, 2014 3:27 PM PT Last Updated: Aug 23, 2014 7:02 PM PT

A young killer whale is trapped in a fisherman's net. A pod of distressed whales cries out frantically as the youngster struggles to get free. Sightseers aboard a whale-watching boat that arrives to help are stunned at what they see.

"It's a very rare thing," said Nicole Mackay, co-owner of Port McNeill-based Mackay Whale Watching. "I never want to see it again."

While she was out on on the water with customers near Port Hardy Thursday morning, a fisherman radioed Comox coast guard asking for help because a whale had become entangled in his net.

'Watching all this happen was really quite terrifying ...'- Nicole Mackay

The captain of Mackay's boat realized they were very close to the fisherman's location, and they went to assist. They didn't know what to expect, but something they had heard just minutes earlier gave a clue.

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Diver survives death spiral in whale attack

By Amy Maas

5:30 AM Sunday Feb 23, 2014

A free diver who was dragged to the depths of the ocean by a killer whale has told how he got down to his "last breath" during the terrifying ordeal.

Levi Gavin, 23, was collecting kina and crayfish at Horahora Estuary, 30km east of Whangarei on February 10, when an orca grabbed a catch bag attached to his right arm.

It dragged him beneath the water for more than 40 seconds before a rope connecting him to the bag came undone and he was able to free himself from the death spiral. Remarkably, he escaped injury.

In an exclusive interview, the keen fisherman told how he had tried to relax as he was being dragged deeper and deeper by the giant sea creature.

"As soon as it got me under water, my goggles came off and kept flapping on my face and it just kept going," he told the Herald on Sunday.

"I went to go open my eyes but all I could see was little white bubbles so I just closed my eyes and tried not to use my energy because then I use up my breath.

"I got to my last breath. I couldn't really think at the time."

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'Severe reduction' in killer whale numbers during last Ice Age

Date: February 4, 2014

Source: Durham University

Summary: Whole genome sequencing has revealed a global fall in the numbers of killer whales during the last Ice Age, at a time when ocean productivity may have been widely reduced, according to researchers.

Read on

12 Indonesian fishermen found safe after harpooned killer whale sank boat

Eight Indonesian hunters who were feared drowned after their boat was dragged down by a killer whale have been found safe after reportedly swimming for 16 hours to reach land.

Four of the 12 fishermen who were hunting Thursday managed to swim to shore, but there was no sign of the others, who went down with their vessel after harpooning a whale. The hunters are from Lamalera, a village in the subdistrict of Wulandoi in Lembata.

A major search was carried out and those found were at two different locations in neighboring subdistrict Ata Dei, according to the Jakarta Globe.

Lembata deputy head Viktor Watun said, "Eight men were found safe, but two of them were injured, so they have to be treated at Lembata Hospital."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/fishermen-found-safe-whale-sinks-boat-article-1.1430631#ixzz2cRCDhyW1

Whale carcass may be towed out to sea to save pod

Marine experts are contemplating towing the carcass of a killer whale out to sea to encourage members of its pod to move into deeper waters off Queensland's coast.

Up to eight whales remain near Fraser Island where two whales, a mother and her calf, died after becoming stranded on Wednesday morning.

Rescuers fear the pod could become stranded again.

A Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services spokesman, Peter Wright, says if the whales don't move on they'll look at ways to coax them out to the open ocean.

"The ideal thing to do would be to let them do it themselves," he told reporters in Hervey Bay on Thursday.

But if that doesn't happen, authorities may tow one of the dead whales behind a boat and hope the pod follows it out of the channel.

Five other stranded whales were freed on Wednesday afternoon. They are part of the pod that remains in the channel.

Sea World marine expert, Trevor Long, says the whales may not have moved on because they're mourning the loss of the other whales.

"This is a family unit and the [feeling of] loss of those two whales out of that family unit is extremely strong," he said.

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DNA Sheds Light on Rare Killer Whale Type

Scientists have long suspected that the killer whale, Orcinus orca, may actually be four different species or subspecies based of subtle differences in appearance and variations in behavior. The rarest of them all is known as type D. These fat-headed orcas, marked by tiny white patches around their eyes, were only recently observed in the wild, some 50 years after they were first identified in photographs from a mass stranding in New Zealand.

The skeleton of one of the type D whales that washed ashore in 1955 ended up at a museum in Wellington. In a new study, scientists analyzed DNA from the bones, showing, yes, type D is likely a distinct subspecies or species. The research, detailed in the journal Polar Biology, also suggests type D diverged from other killer whales about 390,000 years ago, making it the second oldest orca type.

Antiquated as some collections may seem, natural history specimens in museums have proved valuable to researchers studying otherwise hard-to-access genetic material. Scientists recently turned to a musty 100-year-old stuffed passenger pigeon, hoping to reconstruct the DNA of the extinct bird and eventually bring it back to life through cloning.

http://www.livescience.com/37580-dna-sheds-light-on-rare-killer-whale.html

Blackfish - The story of Tilikum, a captive killer that has killed three people since he was captured

Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature's extraordinary nature, the species' cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry.

It will be in UK cinemas from 26 July. 

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/blackfish.html

Trainer says Marineland whale has been bleeding since July

The tail of a killer whale at Marineland has been bleeding since July and is getting progressively worse.

That's what one of the trainers at the Niagara Falls, Ont., attraction tells the Toronto Star.

Reporters Linda Diebel and Liam Caseyreport that the Star has obtained recent video of the whale, Kiska, with a blood trail emanating from her tail.

They write that Marineland officials did not provide any "alternative information."

The Star has published several stories about alleged animal abuse at Marineland in recent months.

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/morning_roundup/2012/10/trainer-says-marineland-whale-has-been.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_buffalo+%28Business+First+of+Buffalo%29