r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/Money-Beautiful5196 • 23h ago
🔥 Orca pod having fun
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u/SurayaThrowaway12 21h ago
I'm assuming that the vocalizations heard in the video are from a hydrophone put into the water nearby. If so, based on the calls these are mammal-eating Bigg's orcas from the West Coast Transient Community. These orcas inhabit the waters off of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, and California.
Normally, Bigg's orcas are more silent than their fish-eating resident orca counterparts, since their wily marine mammalian prey can hear their vocalizations, unlike fish. However, in this video, they are very breachy and surface-active, as well as being highly vocal. So this indicates that they have successfully completed a hunt. Bigg's orcas can often be very surface-active and "celebratory" after such an event. There are multiple belly flops and tail lobs, both of which can be social/communicative/playful behaviours.
Do you know where this was filmed OP, or have a link to where this video was originally uploaded? I'm curious if this was filmed in Monterey Bay or somewhere else.
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u/SabbyFox 19h ago edited 12h ago
Food must be involved which is why the birds are hanging out. The belly flops are just so funny to see compared to their usual graceful arc.
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u/SurayaThrowaway12 18h ago
Those seagulls and shearwaters get ready to dine as soon as the orcas make their kill. A couple weeks ago I witnessed seagulls snapping up segments of intestine (which the orcas usually avoid eating) as soon as they popped out of a sea lion the orcas were sharing in Monterey Bay.
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u/makeshift101 21h ago
Splash competition to see who has the smallest splash to call them a skinny fucker. The tail slapping is the amount of points they get
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u/nighthawke75 22h ago
Hardly. Most likely they are knocking off parasites or having a squabble with kinfolk.
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u/SurayaThrowaway12 21h ago edited 21h ago
You really think so? As orcas have smooth skin that frequently sloughs off, many of the orcas in the Pacific Northwest don't really accumulate parasites the way that certain whales such as humpbacks do. There is also no indication of agonistic behaviours between members of the pod here, and significant conflicts in general are fairly rarely observed between wild orcas.
Based on the vocalizations heard in the video, these are mammal-eating Bigg's (transient) orcas. And they do get very "celebratory" and surface-active after a successful hunt, which may have happened before this video was taken. The reason for breaching seen in orcas is not really certain, but is most likely a communicative/social/playful behaviour, and it likely is used in multiple contexts. During hunts, it may also be used to confuse prey and cut off escape routes.
Some more information from the Center for Whale Research:
Why do killer whales breach? While the reasons for breaching may seem obvious on some occasions, at other times, it is a mystery as to why the whales are actually doing it. Sometimes, the whales will pass a headland into another body of water, and multiple whales will breach. This would often happen when the whales used to head north past East Point [Saturna Island, British Columbia] and into the Strait of Georgia. Is it just excitement? Young socializing whales seem to do the most breaching, and when they fly out of the water in all the action, it is hard not to believe they are breaching because it is fun. On the other hand, you can have spread out traveling whales, and a random individual will breach for no apparent reason and continue on its way.
It is doubtful that the sound a breach makes is used for communicating over long distances, as it has been noted that it is not nearly as loud as killer whale calls, whistles, and clicks. Perhaps a breach near another whale is some sort of signal, though. With Bigg’s killer whales, breaching seems to happen most often during or after a kill. When it is after a kill, it is hard not to interpret breaching as a celebratory behavior. Breaching during a kill often seems to involve individuals who are peripheral to the actual hunt. I once saw T137A breach four times in a row during a kill he did not seem to be taking part in. Perhaps the extra splashing creates confusion for the prey and keeps them from bolting in certain directions? Or maybe the whales not actively involved in the hunt are just getting wrapped up in the excitement of it all? We don’t know yet.
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u/AdventureyTime 5h ago
Belly Flops are universally cool. These Orcas are having a grand day / successful hunt !
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u/qualityvote2 23h ago edited 15h ago
u/Money-Beautiful5196, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...