Killer Whale congregation on a stunning day in the Bremer Canyons as it was all about socialising and play amongst four different family pods. The life of a Killer Whale revolves around family and food, these two aspects are what drive the decision making process of every Orca matriarch on a daily basis. Our observations of wild Killer Whales include many different behaviours and activities but one of the most wonderful sights to see is playful Killer Whales. Today there were four seperate families who were spread far and wide, covering an enormous amount of ground s they all separated from their family and moved out to interact with friends from the other families within their community. Wrestling, chasing and a few spectacular breaches and tail slaps were observed throughout the interaction and in such beautiful conditions it elevated the visual optics to another level.
The adults surprised us most as normally it is just the calves who take the opportunity to play as the elders of the family pod will rest nearby. Today though all age groups were in on the fun and having an absolute blast! Social days are something we love to be part of as we have a wonderful opportunity to observe behaviours and surface language not observed on a daily basis. The reason for that is the Killer Whales will spend the majority of each day foraging which takes discipline, stealth and focus. Play is the opposite with much commotion, noise and relaxed energy amongst the pod causing prey to have a slight reprieve from the constant pressure of foraging Killer Whales. Interestingly, today we also had a brief sighting of 2 to 3 Beaked Whales moving together who were luckily not noticed by the Killer Whales who instead were far too busy having fun, a little win for the Beaked Whales today to escape this incredible Killer Whale congregation!
