Category: Marine Mammals

  • A Possible Break in One of Evolution’s Biggest Mysteries

    The little-understood history of the whales and how barnacles may be the key to understanding how giant mammals evolved underwater. Peter Brannen | The Atlantic | Dec 2016 [ Full Story ] Source: A Possible Break in One of Evolution’s Biggest Mysteries

  • Orcas on the Edge – National Wildlife Magazine

    Orcas on the Edge – National Wildlife Magazine This little gem caught my eye while I was browsing my email. Part of a typically well orchestrated campaign by the National Wildlife Foundation – the email was asking my support in Adopting an Orca! Good idea or not. Is it true? Are the orca really within…

  • Simple Orca sociology

    When I started reading about Orcinus orca I was pleasantly surprised. They are all over. Very much a symbol of the islands. The house down the street is “Orca Villa”. Bumper stickers. Sports teams. But as I started reading I was quickly fascinated by a couple of things. How recent a lot of the knowledge…

  • Missing orcas (killer whales)

    Researchers fear five missing killer whales are dead Almost certainly this link will rot but until it does. So who is missing? Three Southern K28 – Raven – 12 year old female – last seen Sept 19th L43 – Jellyroll – 34 year old female – last seen Sept 2nd L71 – Hugo – 20…

  • Dall’s Porpoise

    “Lips like a moose” used to tease one of my classmates of girls with big lips. Dall’s porpoise have lips like that. It has a tiny head with a great big body with a little triangular dorsal fin. Like the orca it’s body is black and white with several different morph’s. Amazingly it is possible…

  • Harbor Porpoise

    Harbor porpoise are vastly reduced in numbers in the Baltic Sea due to the beleif of fishermen that they reduce vaslty the numbers of fish available. And they are right. Each porpoise consumes several pounds of fish a day. In the San Juans it is the salmon gillnetters that struggle with these animals. They blunder…

  • Marine mammals

    Many first time visitors to the San Juan Island come to the see the Orca. Fascinating and spectacular they are only a small portion of the marine mammals that call Puget Sound home. My interest began with the porpoises that rolled by the sailboat as I went from island to island. Usually they were visible…