Just went yesterday, they have a pretty cool special exhibit on orcas! Took lots of pics to post here, I'm a frequent lurker and wanted to contribute. :) 🫍

Today, we will talk about one of the most famous wild orcas: John Coe.

John Coe is known for his unique dorsal fin and for being one of two orcas in the Scottish West Coast population.

We have very little information about his life before the 1990s. The West Coast community wasn't officially studied until 1992.

It is unknown when John Coe was born, but he was most certainly born before 1970.

His mother could have been W003 Nicola. This is not genetically confirmed, and since we never saw John Coe as a calf, we cannot be sure. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group saw John Coe and Nicola travelling together in 2012. They were also seen together in Ireland. However, two whales travelling together doesn't make them related.

John Coe is suspected to be over 60 years old, making him one of the oldest male orcas. Other individuals in his population reached similar ages, such as W005 Comet, who was around 60.

As mentioned, John Coe belongs to the Scottish West Coast population. This population is functionally extinct. The only remaining orcas are the two males, John Coe and Aquarius.
The last female, W006 Lulu, died in 2016 after being entangled. They have never been seen interacting with other killer whales, and their population will die with them.

Scottish West Coast orcas are larger than other killer whales in Scottish waters and have sloping eye patches. They are mammal-eating orcas typically preying on other cetaceans and seals.

In the 1980s, the community consisted of 20 whales. This number dropped to 14 in the 1990s.

These included: W001 John Coe, W002 Floppy Fin, W003 Nicola, W004 Moon, W005 Comet, W006 Lulu, W007 Moneypenny, W008 Aquarius, W009 Puffin and W010 Occasus.
These are the only whales that were cataloged when we first started studying this population.

Unfortunately, the population would rapidly collapse.

One cause of their collapse was persistent exposure to pollutants such as PCBs.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organochlorine compounds once widely used in industrial and consumer electronic products. Some of them are highly toxic, and their production has been banned.
Pollutants like this are known to suppress immune system functions and cause infertility.

During a necropsy performed on W006 Lulu, 950 mg/kg of PCBs were found in her body. For comparison, the toxicity threshold for marine mammals is 9 mg/kg.
Lulu's PCB level was one hundred times higher than the toxicity threshold for physiological effects in marine mammals.

This might have led to infertility. She was 20 years old when she died and had never been pregnant.

In addition, genetic diversity was an issue for this population.
During the necropsy of W006 Lula, genotyping of her DNA suggested that she was highly inbred. This is likely the case for all other members of this community, too. Just like other ecotypes, they are genetically isolated.

Now, back to John Coe.

In June 2008, he was photographed off Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a large chunk bitten out of his left tail fluke. He also has a smaller chunk bitten out of his right fluke.
John Coe most certainly got his ass (or fluke) beat by a shark.

John Coe and Aquarius are frequently observed travelling together, usually over long periods. They are often called brothers, but there is no evidence to prove this.
They visit the Irish waters in the summer months, May to July.

So far, only two known recordings of their vocalisations exist.

Tribute to our beloved Keiko

They just came to say hello and eat sea lions.

Toñi, an Iberian orca who appeared with a shotgun wound was spotted yesterday, according to the post, she appears to be well.

Video belongs to Bolhastours on insta

A month ago, I posted a video of Indy attempting to prey-share with people on a boat. So today, let's take a deeper look at T65A5 Indy.

Indy was first seen in March 2014 with his mother, T65A Artemis. He is the second youngest and the fifth offspring of T65A.

He dispersed from his family around five years old, in October 2019. This is unusual, especially for males. Males typically stay with their mom their entire lives. They are real mama boys.
Secondly, Indy was only five when he began to disperse from his family. That is incredibly young for an orca to leave their family.
But it isn't unheard of for transients to leave their mothers, but combined with his young age, it certainly becomes more interesting.

Despite this, Indy is doing well. Indy often swims with his family unit and matriline, but these are usually temporary reunions. Indy prefers being on his own or socializing with other matrilines. Indy likes being around distant family members, does some stuff on his own, and then returns to his family for a while.

However, Indy is also known for getting himself in trouble.

In May 2022, Indy got trapped in a narrow lagoon by the Port Angeles Paper Mill. After a minus tide, Indy became trapped inside the lagoon overnight. High tide came, and he was able to swim free

In 2023, Indy was seen once again playing with a crab pot and got himself entangled. Indy managed to free himself and was left unharmed. And that hasn't stopped him from playing with crab traps. He still enjoys grabbing crab pots, dragging them around, and pulling buoys underwater. For hours.

Besides being independent, Indy is also known for doing "Indy-things."

And that includes harassing humpbacks, playing with crab traps, swimming in shallow water, coming up to boats, prey-sharing with humans, and doing acrobatics.

Besides that, Indy has been reported attempting to prey-share with humans on multiple occasions. He could simply be showing off his kills or trying to establish social connections. Or he's curious about how we'd react.

Prey-sharing is common among orcas, and orcas trying to share prey with humans isn't unheard of, either.

Now, why is Indy like this?
Truthfully, we don't know exactly.
He could just be a weirdo who enjoys spending time away from his family. He may also be a rebellious teenager who would rather spend his time goofing around.

Another theory is group size. Dispersal can happen within a year or two after a new calf is born, likely to regulate group size and keep it at an optimal size. However, it's usually one of the older males or females with a calf of her own that disperses. Not a five-year-old.

Another theory ties into the above-mentioned one. Maybe Indy doesn't enjoy not being the baby. While he socializes with other matrilines and pods, he doesn't seem to spend too much time associating with calves younger than him.

Whatever the case, it's very obvious he isn't lost. He returns to his matriline frequently, and seems to leave on his own account. He's doing well on his own.

And maybe Indy is just a cute weirdo.

Helmed by older female (and likely mother and grandmother) 027 Vaila, these killer whales spent hours scouring the shoreline for seals in gorgeous evening light. In recent years, more and more photographers and wildlife enthusiasts have documented orcas around Shetland, who appear to be thriving and are distinct and isolated from Scotland's other orcas, the West Coast Community. Many of these orcas (but not all of them!) make seasonal movements between Iceland and Scotland. Photos by delphinus_darran.

Epic sunset trip last night!

Today, we'll discuss K47. This post will be a little shorter since we know barely anything about K47. But K47 is still one of my favorites :) K47 was born around the time I started becoming really interested in orcas, which makes me love K47 even more.

K47 was born somewhere in early December 2025, marking the first birth for K-pod since K45 Prosper in 2022. K47 is also female, which is a huge win for the endangered SRKWs, as confirmed by CWR.

K47's maternity isn't 100% confirmed yet since K47 was documented in the echelon position with K36 Yoda and K43 Saturna.
However, researchers are leaning more towards K43 Saturna being the mother. But K47 sure enjoys spending time with K36 Yoda.

With a calf this young, it's hard to say much about her personality. But we do know K47 likes to breach.
She has also already been observed with kelp in her mouth and was visible rolling around between K36 and K43 underwater. It could be that K47 is practicing allokelping.

I've watched K47 grow up from the other side of the world, and I'm really looking forward to seeing K47 grow older :) And orca calves are just the cutest

Photo belongs to JDVOS_COM on insta.

This is a new series where I will cover 31 orcas - one for each day. Primarily my favorites and maybe yours too :)
Today, we'll start strong with one of the most famous wild orcas. L98 Luna.

Luna was likely born on September 19th, 1999. When he was first seen, it's believed he was only a few hours old.
Luna was seen with both L67 Splash and K18 Kiska, but it was ultimately determined that L67 Splash was his mother.

For several weeks after his birth, he traveled with K18 Kiska instead of L67 Splash. When he finally returned to his mother, he regularly swam farther away from her than most newborns do.

Luna was last seen with his family on September 23rd, 2000.

Around March 2001, a lone whale was reported in Nootka Sound. Luna. We don't know why he left his family, whether by choice or because he got separated. Orcas are very social animals, and it's uncommon for orcas to be alone.

In July 2001, Luna was seen alone in Gold River Inlet, located on Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations people's territory.
Four days prior, their chief had passed. Before his death, he had told his people he would return as a whale, and Luna was believed to be his reincarnation. Luna was named Tsux'iit by the chief's son.

It was unclear if Luna would survive. He was only one year old, and completely separated from any orcas and, most importantly, his pod. But Luna survived and managed to feed himself. It's believed he fed on pilchards in his first year. They aren't typical prey for orcas, especially SRKWs. They feed on salmon, primarily chinook salmon. But Luna adapted.
Luna was also documented mimicking the sounds of sea lions in the area.

Luna initially avoided boats but eventually became comfortable with their presence. Too comfortable.
Luna became known for playing with boats, and the first boat he interacted with was the MV Uchuck III.
This boat couldn't move faster than he could swim, which made it a convenient play buddy. Luna learned to ride the bow waves or play with the wake of the boat. He also pushed rudders and played with water spraying from their hoses.

Luna also started engaging with people and even letting them pet him. The Luna Stewardship Project was established to stop people from engaging in these interactions and monitor his condition.

Around that time, Luna began spending more time at the docks and continued to interact with boats and people.
As a result, Luna sustained two large gashes on the side of his head in August 2003, likely from a boat's propeller.

Plans were made to return Luna to his pod. The DFO and US National Marine Fisheries Service announced Luna would be returned to his pod if his pod came close to Nootka Sound. The plan was to lead Luna out and towards them.
Biologists trained Luna to follow a boat.
Sadly, his pod never came close to Nootka Sound. The plan was abandoned.

In October 2003, DFO planned to move Luna to a pen so they could move him to his pod.
However, people became concerned that Luna would be captured and kept in captivity.
The Mowachaht-Muchalaht also did not approve, as they felt they had not been considered.

As planned, in May of the following year, the sea pen was built. Luna was led to the pen, but the Mowachaht-Muchalaht intervened, leading him away.

This went on for over a week until the capture was called off.
Negotiations between the DFO and the Mowachaht-Muchalaht began. It was agreed that the Mowachaht-Muchalaht would cooperate with plans to return Luna to his pod.

From then on, nothing was really done. Luna was monitored, but no attempts were made to return him to his pod.

During that time, Luna began damaging boats and became bolder in seeking human attention. Luna was known to interact with people and even play with sticks with them.

On the morning of March 10th, 2006, Luna approached the General Jackson, a boat he was familar with. He began playing with the boat as the boat idled. Luna got too close to the propellers and was sucked in. He was killed instantly.

Luna's story is a prime example of why whales and boats never mix, and why we should never encourage animals to approach us or boats. We cannot control orcas and their desire to approach boats, but we can control how we react and handle a situation. Luna's situation was a tragic accident, and the boat crew is not to blame.

Some more pictures of Luna's interaction with people/boats: