Icelandic Orca Population @icelandic-orca-blog - Tumblr Blog

SN190 and her little one at the beginning of June 2018. Photo credit goes to Orca Guardians Iceland

New calf for SN043 “Roulette”!

Roulette lost her first known offspring SN197 “Wavewalker” (born in Winter between 2015-2016) shortly after its birth. It’s interesting to observe how her core group split up after this sad event. It has just recently reunited.

Photo credit goes to Orca Guardians Iceland.

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The baby looks a lot like Kenau and Kayla, and the mom looks a bit like Bjossa. Hopefully this one survives.

Do they have any data on infant mortality in Iceland yet?

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To my knowledge, no specific study has been conducted on infant mortality in Icelandic orcas yet. We could expect it to be around 50% , though, as it is for other wild orcas populations.

New calf for SN043 “Roulette”!

Roulette lost her first known offspring SN197 “Wavewalker” (born in Winter between 2015-2016) shortly after its birth. It’s interesting to observe how her core group split up after this sad event. It has just recently reunited.

Photo credit goes to Orca Guardians Iceland.

I am a bit late in tracking sightings…anyway, lots of encounters have been made since last week:

SN080’s core group, including adult male “Thor” (SN082), was spotted on February 15, 2018.

On February 17th Icelandic-Scottish males “Supreme” (SN066) and “Nótt” (SN067) showed up and “were spotted socializing with two others core groups”. In Scotland, they were last sighted in August 2017 and they have been traveling around Iceland since November.

Finally, February 18th has been particularly important as Floppy (SN090) was re-sighted after almost two years! He’s one of the few males in Icelandic population whose dorsal fin is completely collapsed (others are SN135 “Keiko II” and SN255). - Full credit goes to Orcas Guardians Iceland on Facebook.

SN053’s core group sighted on January 10th, 2018 This group is one of the biggest in the community counting at least 9 individuals. Actually, most of them are calves or juveniles: among them, SN059 “Ardence” is the oldest, followed by presumed sibling SN058 “Katla” and two-years-old SN198 “Frelsi”. Also, a new calf was spotted that day! Mother hasn’t been confirmed yet. Photo credit goes to Orca Guardians Iceland.

Vendetta’s group sighted again on January 4th, 2018. This time, along with Vendetta and her two calves, Supreme (SN066) and Nótt (SN067) were also present.

Attack (SN70) and Tide (SN199) were extremely playful! They were observed spyhopping and even kelping: this behavior, which consists in playing with a seaweed, is quite common among orcas in the Pacific Northwest but rarely seen in Icelandic ones.

Photo credit goes to Orcas Guardians Iceland.

Vendetta (SN069) has made her return to Iceland from Scotland taking almost her whole group with her! Orca Guardians Iceland was able to spot the individuals on December 29th, 2017. Vendetta was of course in the lead closely followed by her calves: 4-years-old male SN070 “Attack” and 2-years-old SN199 “Tide” Two “strangers” where also present: adult male SN206 “Melrakki” and subadult male SN149 “Flangi” who usually travel with SN204’s core group.

Want to know more about orcas that travel between Iceland and Scoland? Click here

( Photo credit goes to Orca Guardians Iceland )

Skadi’s group sighted again on December 28th, 2017. Matriarch Skadi (SN080), adult female Idun (SN081) and males Thor (SN082) and Odin (SN083) are often sighted in Winter and they’re some of the most famous orcas in the Icelandic population! Photo credit goes to Orcas Guardians Iceland/ Laki Tours on Facebook.

New encounter, new baby! The orcas who often associate with SN073 “Feather” were sighted again on December 11th, 2017 and this time a new (days-old!) calf was with them. The mother is believed to be SN210 “Lux”. SN073 “Feather”, SN076 “Bazooka”, SN128 “Ràn” were also present Photo credit goes to Orca Guardians Iceland/ Laki Tours

As winter season goes on in Iceland, lots of killer whales core groups associate with each other and make their way in Snaefellsnes peninsula. On December 7th, 2017 Laki Tours had a wonderful encounter with an orca family: SN073’s

In some of the photos above you can see adult female and matriarch SN073 “Feather” (named after the big notch on her dorsal fin), SN074 “Raggedy” and big boy SN076 “Bazooka” .

Photo credit goes to Laki Tours/ Orca Guardians Iceland.

First sighting of the winter season for Laki Tours/ Orca Guardians Iceland.

Three groups were encountered on December 5th near Breidafjördur. Among them, the matriline of SN080 with two big males: Thor (SN082) and Odin (SN083).

SN303 “Gunnar” showing a bit of himself

SN160’s during Laki Tours’ most recent encounter

Photo credit goes to Laki Tours

New calves for SN013 “Shackles” and SN114

Lots of orcas were present in Laki Tours’ most recent encounter! Also some babies were spotted, at least two of them are just a few weeks old!

Among them:

SN111, SN237’s most recent calf SN219, son of SN164 “Delusion” A brand new baby for SN160 “Sakkara”!

Photos’ credit goes to Orca Guardians Iceland and Laki Tours

Captain Hook (SN021) with the ladies of SN040s and SN046s on May 27,2017

SN105s sighted on May 20th, 2017.

The leader ("matriarch") of this group is a well known adult female named Aurora (SN105). Her family group consist of her, her calf Niniti (SN106), young male Aragon (SN107), female Elaria (SN109) and juvenile Little Runaway(SN108)

Do you want to know more about Aurora? You can adopt her (as well as some other members of her family) here !

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Photos' credit goes to Laki Tours/ Orca Guardians Iceland and Markus Wagner

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