#meetthewhales

[scottish-orca]

Meet the West Coast Community: W10 Occasus Type: Atlantic Orca Type 2 Status: Alive. Catalogued: 2005 Estimated Age: Unknown Range: West of the British Isles from the south Irish Sea to the North outer Hebrides, and the west of Ireland along the Atlantic seaboard. Pod Member: 10/10

About: Occasus was added to the catalogue in 2005 but wasn't named for six years until 2011 when BBC Wildlife ran a naming competition. 

Photos 1 2 //Comet casually photobombing even in the gif// More Info: X

[scottish-orca]

Meet the West Coast Community: W09 Puffin Type: Atlantic Orca Type 2 Status: Alive. Catalogued: 2000 Estimated Age: Unknown Range: West of the British Isles from the south Irish Sea to the North outer Hebrides, and the west of Ireland along the Atlantic seaboard. Pod Member: 9/10

About: Puffin is a female killer whale who was first catalogued by HWDT in 2000. She has been sighted a couple of times since then. Puffin has a uniquely shaped small dorsal that you would normally expect on a calf.

Photos 1 2 //casual comet photobomb//

[scottish-orca]

Meet the West Coast Community: W07 Moneypenny Type: Atlantic Orca Type 2 Status: Alive. Catalogued: 2004 Estimated Age: Unknown Range: West of the British Isles from the south Irish Sea to the North outer Hebrides, and the west of Ireland along the Atlantic seaboard. Pod Member: 7/10

About: Moneypenny despite being catalogued in 2004 is often not named in catalogues on other websites despite the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust's. She is most recently been sighted and photographed this month! (July 2014) by the same websites research team. Her dorsal is not so distinguishable from the other females- but her saddle is very thin.

Photos 1 2

[scottish-orca]

Meet the West Coast Community: W02 Floppy Fin Type: Atlantic Orca Type 2 Status: Alive Catalogued: 1992 Estimated Age: Unknown Range: West of the British Isles from the south Irish Sea to the North outer Hebrides, and the west of Ireland along the Atlantic seaboard. Pod Member: 2/10

About: Floppy Fin is an adult male orca with another distinctive dorsal that flops over to the left. He is often sighted with either the whole pod or in a smaller group of just him, W01 and W03. 

Photos

1 2

[scottish-orca]

Meet the West Coast Community: W01 John Coe Type: Atlantic Orca Type 2 Status: Alive First Sighted: 1980 Estimated Age: 40-50 Range: West of the British Isles from the south Irish Sea to the North outer Hebrides, and the west of Ireland along the Atlantic seaboard. Pod Member: 1/10

About: The most recognised orca in the west coast community by the large notch missing from the lower part of his dorsal. The top of his dorsal also leans slightly which cannot be easily seen in profile (image 2). He was named in 1990's after a character in a poem.

Photos Gif 1 2 3 More Info- X

[stumpyx163]

Meet Splash Born in 1989 at Marineland Canada, Splash was soon discovered to be a very sickly whale. Mainly suffering from Epilepsy. After 2 years he was sent to Seaworld for better care.  At San Deigo he settled in well although trainers noted how he was never off medication (for his epilepsy, high stress levels and ulcers) He was used for water works, no-one noting that it may be un-safe to swim with an orca who suffers from seizures and was also noted to be aggressive toward trainers. His jaw injury (see above) was due to a seizure he suffered which in his small environment caused him to shatter his lower jaw on a gate. While the injury healed and so did the initial infection. He continued to get infections so they had to remove all the teeth in his lower jaw.

He was also noted by trainers that he would eat the filtration sand coming out of the filters in the pool.  He died in 2005, aged 15.

X X

[stumpyx163]

Nami lived in a natural environment suited for her for almost 25 years and within only 7 months of being placed in an artificial concrete tank, Nami passed away. Maybe it is time, we as a society reconsider captivity in artificial settings. This is a lesson Nami’s death could teach us. Should Nami die just as an experiment and in vain for our own selfish needs?

X 

[stumpyx163]

When Moby Doll was harpooned other members of his pod supported his head above the water while he regained his senses. After a few minutes he began to swim normally despite the 200m line that began dragging him back to shore. X X