Posts Tagged ‘Orca’
The secrets of orca beach life
Rubbing on smooth pebbles is a generations-old cultural tradition for a particular group of orcas off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. Cameras allow our partners at OrcaLab to take you right into the orcas’ fascinating, hidden world … Orcas are deeply cultural beings: the ultimate team players, it’s difficult not to admire their devotion…
Read MoreA New Calf Provides Hope for Endangered Southern Resident Orcas
Sara Hysong Shimazu (Hysazu Photography) GOOD NEWS – A new baby orca! On March 1st, observers with Washington State-based Center for Whale Research and Orca Behavior Institute were watching members of J pod of the Southern Resident orca community off San Juan Island and spotted a tiny dorsal fin amongst the more familiar orcas. The…
Read MoreShocking footage of captive orca butting head against wall
Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Distressing scenes have recently emerged from Marineland in Ontario where Kiska, the loneliest whale in the world, has been filmed violently thrashing her head against the side of her tank. Kiska is a wild caught Icelandic orca who has spent the last four decades in captivity. She was just three years old…
Read MoreAnother captive orca tragedy as Morgan’s calf Ula dies
Only five months after young orca Skyla died at Loro Parque in Spain, another orca lost her life here yesterday. Morgan’s calf Ula died a few weeks before her 3rd birthday. In spring 2021 the park had announced that Ula was suffering from an intestinal condition. After an update in May stating that Ula was…
Read MoreThe Penn Cove orca captures
On August 8th, 1970, more than 80 orcas were rounded up and herded into nets in Penn Cove, Washington. Seven of these orcas, likely from the the Southern Resident community, were taken into captivity, including Tokitae. This video is original and shocking footage of this notorious event, known as the Penn Cove orca captures. Five…
Read MoreMore Success! WDC’s negotiations with travel giant TripAdvisor pay off
Online travel giant, TripAdvisor is to stop the promotion of whale and dolphin captivity shows, a move that follows many months of positive dialogue between the company and WDC. The news is the latest success for WDC’s tour operators campaign, which has targeted big travel industry names and challenged them to stop promoting this kind of cruelty.…
Read More5 Year Fight for Critical Habitat for Southern Resident orcas
Orcas off the Olympic Coast of Washington (National Marine Sanctuaries) Expanding critical habitat for Southern Resident orcas was one of the first things I started working on when I joined WDC as the Jessica Rekos Fellow for Orca Conservation more than five years ago. And now, over five years later – it’s here! Last week,…
Read MoreNorwegian orca Morgan gives birth at Loro Parque
Tenerife, Spain – Wild-caught Norwegian orca Morgan, now held at Loro Parque in the Canary Islands, Spain, gave birth on September 22nd to her first calf. The park announced Morgan’s pregnancy in December 2017, just weeks after SeaWorld ended their association with Loro Parque, essentially abandoning the six orcas that had previously been included in…
Read MoreNoise pollution chronically stresses whales and dolphins
Whales and dolphins depend on sound to stay together in their family groups and whales used to be able to go on large hunting expedition to find their food, calling each other when they found it. However, according to a new study underwater noise pollution means they can only hear each other for around 10…
Read More50 shades of grey – watching orcas in Scotland
Every year, people gather on cliff tops in the north of Scotland to watch out for orcas, some of whom come down from their winter herring-hunting grounds in Iceland on the look out for seals in the early Scottish summer. Run by the Sea Watch Foundation and supported by WDC, we call this event Orca…
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