Our second day in Victoria we went out WHALE WATCHING!!! Well, technically orca watching...
This is one of the male orcas in the "J" pod: one of three pods of residential orcas that live in the area. Factoid: even though resident killer whales (who live in the area year-round) look almost identical transient killer whales (who travel in small groups), they are a diverging species. They do not mate with each other and have totally different diets. Transient orca eat seals and other marine animals, while the residential eat only fish. Mostly salmon! They also differ in social behavior and language. There is a third type as well (offshore) but we didn't learn much about them. Here is some video I took:
Orca Watching from
Kaitlin McCarthy on
Vimeo.
AND some more photos:
Orcas are a matrilineal society, like elephants. The oldest female in J pod is over 100 years old!
One of the whales rolled over to show us his belly. We also saw one "spy hop" which is when they bob up out of the water straight up and down to get a better look at their surroundings. I didn't get a picture.
Obviously I'm watching the whales more than my camera, but this picture makes me feel like I'm falling in a fun sort of way.
Flipping his tail up in the air!
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