Whales

This New App Will Connect You to Orcas

Featured Image Credit:Wikipedia

A new app will be able to connect you directly to the inner conversations of orcas around the San Juan Islands. The app is called Orcasound. The app is connect to live underwater microphones that are placed on the seafloor in the area.

When you open the app, you can listen to everything that is happening beneath the waves. Although it is an amazing opportunity to connect to wildlife, the creators of the app are hoping that it turns into something more.

Scientists need help tracking these orcas. Through the app, users can alert the scientists when there is a whale nearby. The scientists can then send out a team to collect samples of fecal material or prey in order to find out more about these orcas. The more we know, the better we can help these struggling whales.

The app is extremely easy to use, but it is a real way to help scientists study orcas.

In addition to orcas, you will be able to hear other kinds of marine life. It is very interesting to just listen to what is happening on the seafloor. You never know what you might hear! The app has a guide that will help you learn what the calls mean and which type of animal is making them.

Definitely check this one out!

Read more from the source.

Dolphins

Killer Whales Attack Humpback Whale Calves

Featured Image Credit: ©Steve Hinczynski

Whales are beautiful creatures that can take a variety of forms. From the large baleen whales to smaller toothed whales, many of us love them in any form. However, interactions between different whale species are not always enjoyable. In fact, many of the encounters are violent. This is especially true for interactions between humpback and killer whales.

Humpback whales participate in an annual migration towards tropical waters each year. Typically they give birth here and then head back into colder waters to feed. Along the way, they encounter killer whale pods that viciously attack them. The killer whales are attempting to kill the newborn calves. Sometimes the orcas win, other times the humpback whale calf manages to get away with the scars to show.

Researchers spent several years analyzing over 3,000 humpback whale tails and flukes to better understand this species interaction. According to Juan Capella, the leader researcher, “Because the chances of observing rake marks on young, vulnerable whales increased in the last 20 years, we think that killer whale attacks on humpback whales may be more common now than they were in the past, perhaps due to the recovery of whale breeding stocks in the Southeast Pacific after hunting was prohibited.”

Based on the study, it appears that humpback whales are attacked on their first journey to colder waters. However, after that first year, the orcas seem to leave them alone.

Learn more from the source.

News

Scientists Plan to Sequence the Genome of Southern Resident Orcas

Image Source: NW News Network

You have likely heard of the plight of orcas in the Pacific Northwest area. Scientists are studying and monitoring the dwindling population. So far, their efforts have not been successful at stalling the downfall of these whales. However, they are attempting a new method that could shed new light onto the beloved resident whales.

The new method is aimed at understanding the genetics of these animals better. The better we can understand their genetics, the more clues we have to help save them in the future.

The project is hoping to sequence the entire genome of over 100 southern resident whales. The genetic samples will be taken via skin and tissue samples from both living and dead whales. Any of the genetic material from dead whales will have been collected in the past 2 decades.

Image source: Plethrons YouTube

Within a year, the project hopes to have the genetic information ready for analysis. Based on the findings of this genetic work, scientists will have a direction for the future. Perhaps a small gene pool has left inbreeding problems, or a genetic mutation is affecting their immune systems. Whatever the case, scientists will know more once the genetic analysis has been completed.

It is impossible to guess what the genome sequencing project will find, but it is hoped that it will help scientists understand the needs of the whales better. With a better understanding, we will be better able to help the whales avoid extinction.

Learn more about the new project here.

Guest Columns

Beluga Pod Adopted a Young Narwhal

Featured Image Credit: Baleines En Direct

BALIENES EN DIRECT

In July, researchers were tagging beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River. The project was focused on finding out more about these uniquely white whales, but they encountered a surprise

While doing drone surveillance, researchers spotted a narwhal within a group of beluga whales. The narwhal seemed completely comfortable with his blindingly white friends. It was an unusual sighting because narwhals and beluga whales are not known to be friends.

Narwhals are typically found in the icy waters of the Arctic, which is roughly 600 miles north of the St Lawrence River. The narwhal in this beluga pod was a young male that seemed at home with the belugas. In fact, researcher Robert Michaud claimed that “it behaves like it was one of the boys. It’s a like a big social ball of young juveniles that are playing some social, sexual games.”

Marine biologists are not completely surprised by the interaction. Whales are highly intelligent animals that are capable of creating meaningful bonds with others. It is exciting to see that these bonds may extend beyond species lines.

This is not the first sighting of this narwhal with the beluga pod. He has been seen socializing with the same group in both 2016 and 2017. Scientists have speculated that the narwhal may have come this far south in response to a changing climate, but they know that they need to conduct more observations in order to find out more about this awesome interaction.

Read more from the source.

Whales

Killer Whales Spotted in the Victoria Harbor

Over the summer, Victoria’s Inner Harbor received many unexpected welcome visits from a killer whale pod. In a matter of little over a week two visits happened, and several others occurred during the summer.

According to a local whale watching captain, Jackie Cowan, the pod that came into the harbor were transient whales. They came into the harbor by following the tide towards seals and sea lions that tend to hang out in the area.

Jackie said that the whales followed the incoming tide due to an influx of nutrients that whales know as seal attractants. Although the thought process of the whales was good, they only stayed in the harbor for about 30 minutes for one trip. Another trip inside lasted about an hour. The whales don’t seem to enjoy sticking around the busy port area. However, it was the first time that killer whales had been spotted that far into the harbor in a while.

No one is quite sure why the visits are more frequent this year, but for whatever reason the whales are showing a preference to the area. It could be related to falling food supplies, human disturbance, or could just be the curiosity of the killer whales. Unlike their resident counterparts, transient killer whales seem to focus on less more available sources of food, instead of mostly salmon.

Read more from the source.

Guest Columns

The Whale Highway Connected Killer Whales to Scientists

Featured Image Credit: Paul Ensor, University of Canterbury
By: Sarah Sharkey

A group of scientists was recently returning home to New Zealand from Antarctica when they
encountered a rare sight. The University of Canterbury scientists came across a group of orcas that put
on an amazing show for them.

The whales were in the part of the Ross Sea that is known as the “whale highway.” Whales of all kinds
use this chilly corridor to travel.

Dr Regina Eisert was one of the scientists on board, she had this to say about the experience, “It’s their home, they’re wondering what we’re doing and within ten minutes they started showing up and
checking what we’re doing. We know nothing about them basically. We don’t know how many there are and we don’t know how they’d be affected by fishing.”

The scientists have set up many underwater acoustic recorders in order to track the movements
of orcas throughout these waters. The researchers have even been able to pinpoint different
individuals through the use of these acoustic monitors.

In addition to the acoustic monitoring, the team took a variety of skin samples. These will be used
to help analyze the diet and DNA of a killer whale. Hopefully, the researchers will be able to
detect changes through time and help to support the continued survival of killer whales in this
region.

Learn more from the source.

News

Rare Sighting of Beluga Whales

Submitted by Levon Drover, via CBC.CA
By: Sarah Sharkey

Earlier this summer, beluga whales were spotted near Ingonish, Nova Scotia. It was an extremely rare
sighting. In fact, these whales have not been spotted in the area since August of 2015. Although the
whales have not been seen for years, they seemed perfectly at ease in these waters.

The sighting happened on a Zodiac Adventures boat. Dave Sigworth and Mary Barton were on board to
witness the amazing spotting.

Sigworth described his experience, “ We were expecting to see maybe pilot whales or dolphins, but we
never expected to see beluga whales. The word from the captain on the earlier tour was that they had
seen beluga whales, so it certainly put a little buzz in the air among the people.”

The captain of their boat took some time trying to find these elusive whales, but eventually he found
them. Sigworth said, “They weren’t concerned about us at all, they came right up to the Zodiac and we
think they were rubbing on the boat a little bit. I’m not sure if anyone on the boat managed to touch
them, but they were swimming around and under the boat.”

It was definitely a uncommon sighting of the smallest species of whale. Although there are breeding
populations nearby, they rarely occur in this area. It may be a sign that the breeding whales are doing
well.

Read more from the source.

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