Great Southern Killer Whale Tours are an exciting opportunity to meet the incredible Bremer Bay Orca and today we enjoyed time spent with these apex predators. Cheryl and her family were in The Patch today on our arrival and welcomed us as they settled in for the days work ahead. The family spent much time foraging and travelling but would slow to rest every so often close to us as they caught up on some sleep. Rest is important for Killer Whales but it is not something they can spend endless hours catching up on some beauty sleep, these apex predators must always remain awake to ensure they remember to breathe. Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) sleep differently from humans, they shutdown one half of their brain at a time to rest while the other half remains awake, reminding them to breathe and maintain an awareness of their surroundings.
Known as unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, it is something that we can often see in the sighting grounds in and amongst the many other activities that take place each day for the Killer Whales. One thing that was noticeable today was that all the calves of the family were not sleeping at all! The youngsters filled their day with play as they wrestled and rolled together before catching the swell for a surf towards us, belly up and very cheeky. A little breach from Gabrielle and spy hops practiced added to the fun as the youngsters did a good job of giving the adults in the family plenty of time to forage, travel and rest while they made the most of playtime. It isn’t unusual for our team to find ourselves as babysitters for the young calves, seeming to be their entertainment for the day while the adults kept busy and would drop by to checkin on the calves throughout the interaction.
