Alright guys! I’ve decided to share a multi year project that I’ve been doing! Years ago, this project was starting as a Microsoft Power Point Presentation that I never shared, just made (with a LOT in inaccuracies. Young (10/11 year old snini wasn’t the brightest xD)) for my own enjoyment. In 2018ish, I started redoing the power points. In 2019, I decided to start logging them on a google doc, then a google spread sheet (at my mom’s urging because “google docs are NOT THE WAY TO LOG INFO SNINI”) and now, ~6 years from when this whole project started, I’ve decided to log them on a site.
I would like to introduce you to the Worldwide Killer Whale Database!
https://sites.google.com/view/worldwidekillerwhaledatabase/home?authuser=0
This database is suuuper bare bones right now, but I did just get the J2/J14 and J7/J16 matrilines inputted. I hope to slowly build this site up over my free time, but it will likely take me a while.
Now, you may be thinking, “Snini? But WHY?” and my answer to that is this: This has been a lifelong passion for me, my love for killer whales. Let me tell you how I became who I am today. I was 4-5 (so 11 ish years ago) and I went to the Seattle Aquarium (I'd gone many times before), but I was finally old enough to really gain (or start to gain) a passion for orcas. At the time though, I was a paleontologist wannabe and was really confusing my teachers because they'd be like "so, snini, what do you want to be when you grow up?" and I'd always reply with " A PALEONTOLOGIST :D" and would confuse the poor ladies who had no clue what the fuck that was xD. I'd always loved the Southern Residents (the local community of Killer Whales) and collected the Seattle Aquariums Orca Trading Cards (and, admittedly, I still do out of obsession xD). I would paw through the three rows that we could dig through until I found ones that I didn't already have and I'd bring them back to my dad and he'd put them in his pocket and give them back when we got home or when I wanted them back at the aquarium xD. When it was in 2nd or third grade, the obsession really hit hard and I pivoted from dinos to cetas. Since then, I've been an avid ceta nerd who has a love for dinos and who gets excited over all things ceta (and dino) related.I loved the J2 Granny card so much that I had to "laminate" it in tape and I still have her card to this day. Now, jump forwards 11ish years and I’m applying to get into ORCA (Ocean Research Collage Academy) to try to jumpstart getting a career based in the Marine Sciences, specifically centered around the Salish Sea and the orcas that inhabit it.
With that said, I hope you enjoy watching me build this site. I will periodically post about finishing ‘milestones’ here (finishing pods, pages, or communities/populations).
Stay safe my friends!
-Snini
