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Marine Mammals Airborne 3 of 3

January 12, 2016 Lodge Guide

A Killer Whale tail slapping which is seen occasionally off Northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia. This type of behaviour often occurs when the whales are in close contact with their pod or grouped together with other pods and which seems to be a form of communication. Whether tail slapping is a friendly or an aggressive form of behavior is not proved beyond a doubt but a majority of the times it seems to be playful. The sound that echoes after a tail slap can be very loud especially when the water is calm and there is nobody else in the same vicinity except for the boat that you are on. Again “spectacular” is the word and the reason for the behaviour is less important.

Watching a Killer Whale Family

“Pods are actually their own matriarchal family groups. Animals born into a pod, stay in the pod their entire lives. This is like living with your mother, aunts, uncles, cousins and brothers and sisters all descendant from your mother’s side of the family for your whole life. It is extremely rare for an Orca from one pod to be accepted or join with another pod of whales. The gene pool gets mixed up by not having any father within the same pod. Each pod has their own ‘dialect’ of communication through various squeaks, burbles, and whistles.
The term “Whale” is a misnomer since the Orca is actually from the dolphin family. We associate “whale” with something very large and they are much larger than the majority of dolphins. They are a whale of a dolphin.”

This quote was taken from the website Whales and Dolphins BC which is a great site to visit if you are interested in more information.