DARLING CETACEANS

01/24/2023

❤️ 📸📹 Mon, Jan 23 - Ongoing, but today a particular REQUEST of PHOTOS &/or VIDEO, taken while following Be Whale Wise laws & guidelines (please no un-permitted drones/UAVs), of a whale in SOUTH PUGET SOUND who today has been reported to us (& others) traveling up & down Pickering Passage (west side Harstine Island). THE WHALE has been reported as: unconfirmed baleen - humpback - minke - orca (multiple). Based on the various descriptions we lean minke. Some reporting parties feel confident about one species over another which underscores the importance of photo/video documentation! (Even cell phone at times is enough to confirm species) THANKS!!
❓🐬🐳🐋❓🐬🐳🐋❓🐬🐳🐋❓🐬🐳🐋❓

01/12/2023

01/05/2023

WAYS OF WHALES SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. John Ford has studied orcas both in BC and other global regions, including Patagonia, Antarctica, Alaska and Norway. He received a PhD in Zoology at UBC in 1985 for his discovery and documentation of acoustic dialects in killer whales off the west coast. He was previously the senior marine mammal scientist and Director of Research and Conservation at the Vancouver Aquarium. He is currently a research scientist (emeritus) at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, BC, where he headed up the cetacean research program for 16 years. He is also a Co-Chair of the Marine Mammal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and a member of the IUCN’s Cetacean Specialist Group. His main areas of research include the life history, ecology, behaviour and acoustic communication of cetaceans, especially killer whales.

Stay tuned for more speaker spotlights coming soon! We hope you will join us for our hybrid Ways of Whales workshop on January 14th. For more details and registration information, go to http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ejircdw9d6d4abe0&fbclid=IwAR1xk39O0XMmIjFK1fviz60XcZwfF0ejtEHzYrEkKFz6jCCjaKRAhTeSeJQ&llr=r5jgwzbab

11/17/2022

Winter the dolphin died in 2021, but her story of a prosthetic tail continues to inspire people battling physical challenges.

10/25/2022

As we discussed with Marcie Callewaert John in Episode 43, Killer Whales have cultural fads similar to people! One the most well known (at least recently) is a member of K Pod wearing salmon on her head in the 80s

Posted • Emma Luck: Northern Naturalist “On Wednesdays we wear pink salmon”

Did you know killer whales can have cultural fads just like people?

In the summer of 1987, salmon hats became all the rage with the southern resident killer whales. It started with one female carrying a dead salmon her head and quickly spread to the two other pods. The behavior didn't seem to serve much of a function other than the whales apparently found it very entertaining! Like other short-lived fashion trends, the salmon-hat behavior only lasted for one summer, and quickly petered out by the following year.

10/25/2022

10/20/2022

10/15/2022

Hector’s dolphin in Northland for first time in 100 years!

We can now confirm that there were two sighting of the rare Hector’s dolphin in the Mangonui harbour last weekend. This is the first confirmed sighting of a Hector’s dolphin on Northland’s east coast in 100 years!

Hector’s were once found along the coast of most of the South Island as well as parts of the North Island, but today, Hector’s dolphin are classified as Nationally Vulnerable, with an estimated population of 15,700 individuals, and are only known to live in different sub-populations around the South Island.

Even though this news of a Hector's dolphin returning to Northland is fantastic we're asking locals and visitors that if they see the dolphin, to steer clear and allow it to enjoy the environment without hindrance or harassment.

If you see a Hector’s dolphin in any location in New Zealand please report it to 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468). Reports to DOC help build knowledge and understanding of the species.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/3T1QHyK

📷: Stent, Danica - Hector's dolphin in Akaroa (not the actual dolphin in Northland)

10/06/2022

The first direct evidence of orcas killing white sharks in South Africa has been captured by both a helicopter and drone pilot, and a new open-access paper published today in The Ecological Society of America's journal Ecology presents both sets of video footage, which provide new evidence that orca...

10/04/2022

Global Orcas geographic range, albeit occasionally Orcas may pass through any ocean region during migrations or unusual circumstances, they are truly global. source: britannica.com

09/25/2022

09/12/2022

A new Hubbs-SeaWorld study found that bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon are more "family-oriented" than previously thought.