The World's Greatest Alarm Clock: An audio experience transporting you to the home of the Northern resident orca

by Megan Hockin-Bennett 


Introduction by Sam Lipman:

Megan observing orca at OrcaLab

Megan Hockin-Bennett, talented wildlife videographer and founder of Wild Sky Productions, has spent eight years studying the Northern resident orca with OrcaLab in Vancouver, Canada. Using a network of underwater hydrophones and cameras, alongside land-based identification, Megan assists the station in conducting its vital research, increasing insight into the lives of the unique Northern resident community (as well as working to help wild-captured Northern resident orca Corky). 

For Orca Month, Megan has crafted her knowledge, experiences and orca recordings into a special encounter that brings the orca to you...

In this magical audio experience, Megan invites you to spend a peaceful moment with her on the shores of the Johnstone Strait, listening to the haunting calls of the orca families who inhabit it. You will walk (or float) away feeling relaxed, educated and refreshed. 

So take a break, get comfortable, close your eyes - or turn on OrcaLab's live cameras to try and catch a glimpse of the orca - and let yourself be transported to the home of the Northern residents. 

We hope you enjoy! 

Male transient orca T019B / Galliano passes Megan at OrcaLab

For more of Megan's videos, visit Wild Sky Productions.

You can also head over to OrcaLab to learn more about the Northern resident orca, staying up-to-date through its Facebook and Instagram pages. 

Keep spreading the word about how to help care for, protect and conserve our world's orca during (and after) Orca Month.

And if you spot any orca on OrcaLab's live cameras, let us know - happy orca watching! 

A Summer of Research at OrcaLab

by Suzie Hall

Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to work with orcas. Admittedly, my childhood dream was to ride around on the back of my orca best friend in a very ‘Free Willy’-esque fashion, but as I’ve grown older the dream has been reworked into something more realistic. Over the years, there has been more and more evidence to show that keeping orcas in captivity causes them physical and psychological damage. Whilst the debate between experts and the industry still rages, and marine parks either move forward or continue to defend their decision to keep captive orcas, my mind is set: These creatures should be kept out of tanks and free to hunt, travel and socialise in the wild. That’s where the research should be done, and that’s what I want to do.

Over the past few years I’ve crammed in as many qualifications, courses and lectures as I can manage in an attempt to make myself useful within the world of orca research and conservation. I have still never seen an orca in the flesh, which is becoming a bit embarrassing given my not-so-subtle obsession.

Five months ago, I received an email from Dr. Paul Spong and his wife, Helena Symonds, inviting me to visit their research station, OrcaLab, off the coast of British Colombia, Canada. To say I was excited is an understatement, (I was so excited I managed to tell everyone I was going to visit without actually emailing back to accept their offer!). And now I am finally beginning my mega journey from the UK to the northern coast of Vancouver Island – a 72+ hour journey. 

So what does one need to pack for a summer of orca research?

Due to a stellar effort by myself, my family and the Internet, I’m now confident that I have everything I need…

 

-              Binoculars? Check.

-              Camera? Check.

-              Sleeping bag? Check.

-              Clothes for sunshine and torrential downpours? Check.

-              Mini cafetière to keep the morning monster at bay? Ch- Ah. Forgot that one.

In addition to my giant backpack, (which has its own mini backpack), I’m also transporting all 20kgs of my SCUBA diving kit to the island to assist with maintenance of the underwater cameras and microphones. In hindsight, attempting to carry 40kgs of luggage on a three-day journey, complete with a long-haul flight, an overnight stay in a hostel, a ten-hour bus journey and two ferry crossings may have been slightly optimistic… But it’s too late now. Let’s hope someone on the team is a trained masseuse. 

OrcaLab is situated on Hanson Island, a largely uninhabited island off the north-eastern coast of Vancouver Island. Over the summer months, Paul, Helena and their team monitor the Northern resident orcas that inhabit the area, along with the humpback whales that also frequent the Straits. The transient (or ‘Biggs’) orcas are also studied as they often make an appearance in the area to predate on smaller mammals. The lab includes a network of hydrophones (underwater microphones) covering about 50km of the orcas' habitat, which collect acoustic data and photographic images 24 hours a day.

And OrcaLab is completely off-grid: powered by solar panels and generators. This means that any luxuries are few-and-far between; we’ll be travelling to the nearest town (Alert Bay, on a neighbouring island) every 1-2 weeks for food and laundry.

Photo © Max Woodman

OrcaLab is a unique research station and the work it conducts is essential for the preservation of orcas and other marine wildlife. For me, this is the experience of a lifetime and, I hope, the first of many orca-related projects. I cannot think of a better place to see my first orcas than among the verdant islands of British Colombia, and I hope that I will prove myself useful to the research at OrcaLab. I would also love to see orca ‘Springer’ who is part of the Northern resident community, as she is the first orca I adopted at the tender age of nine. Springer has also just been spotted with her second calf following her release back into the wild fifteen years ago, after she was rescued.

Over the next few months I will be sharing my experience of OrcaLab, the orcas and the beautiful coast of British Colombia - so stay tuned!

For a short history of OrcaLab and its research, please read our interview with Dr. Paul Spong.

The Orca of Marineland Antibes

by Sam Lipman 

Few remember Calypso. She was a six year-old orca captured from Canadian waters in December 1969. Calypso was transferred to England and then France, where she was the first orca at Marineland Antibes. Forced to swim alone and invaded with some of the first attempts at artificial insemination, she only survived for one year. Calypso’s heart-wrenching existence served as a symbol of questionable ethics and an omen of darker things to come.

Calypso died in 1970 from an abscess on her lung. Since her death, eleven orca have died at Marineland Antibes. With the exception of Freya’s four stillborn calves, each of these individuals had their own name, given to them by their captors, and their own story. 

Clovis was the second orca to arrive at Marineland Antibes after he was captured by SeaWorld. At just two years-old, he was a victim of the horrific 1970 US Penn Cove orca captures that decimated the Southern resident population from which he originated, (the population is still endangered today).

The young calf was captured at the same time as Lolita, a female orca who is still alive today, isolated in one of the world’s smallest orca tanks at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida. In a distasteful twist over forty years later, Parques Reunidos, the company that owns Marineland Antibes, now also owns the Miami Seaquarium (and Lolita) under its US subsidiary, Palace Entertainment. Parques Reunidos itself is owned by Candover, a private equity fund managed by London-based Arle Capital Partners.

Free-ranging members of the endangered Southern resident population (Photo © Orca Aware)

When Clovis was shipped to Marineland Antibes, he was put into a tank with Calypso. Where Clovis was a Southern resident, Calypso was from the Northern resident community. “In the wild, these populations do not mix,” Howard Garrett, co-founder of the Orca Network and Free Lolita campaign remarked, adding, “Clovis and Calypso would have had no social affiliation or language similarity and it is unlikely they would have been able to socialise without sorting out their dominance roles. That could have been a violent process and one which may never have been resolved.”

Shortly after Clovis arrived at Marineland Antibes, Calypso died, leaving the young male swimming by himself for the two and a half years he survived.

Between 1976 and -89, a further five orca were captured from the wild and taken to Marineland Antibes. Kim, Betty, Kim 2, Freya and Sharkan were all Icelandic in origin. Kim was thought to be five years old when he was taken in October 1976 and he only survived for five years in confinement. Betty was three in October 1978 during her capture and she survived for a meagre nine years. Kim 2 was captured in October 1982 at less than a year old. He survived 23 years at Marineland Antibes and died without reaching the average age expected of male orca in the wild. Sharkan was the last orca to be captured from the wild and sent to Marineland Antibes. She was four years-old when she was taken in October 1989 and she only survived for nineteen years in captivity.  

Of the wild Icelandic orca captured for display at Marineland Antibes, Freya was the last to die. She was captured at the same time as Kim 2 at only one year of age. Over a period of twelve years, Freya had four stillborn calves (that we know of) and she would have been only nine or ten years old when she gave birth to the first. By orca standards, she was too young. Freya passed away in June of last year due to an alleged heart attack.

Freya at Marineland Antibes before she died (Photo © Orca Aware)

John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld orca trainer and supervisor of orca training at Marineland Antibes, saw first-hand how captivity affected several of these orca. During his time at the French park, Hargrove witnessed the orca displaying aggressive behaviours towards the trainers and he personally dealt with several severe aggressions by multiple orca in the water (you can read more about these incidents in his book ‘Beneath the Surface,’ which was released in paperback today). Hargrove also administered medication to the orca, and observed them displaying stereotypic (abnormal repetitive) behaviours due to boredom and stress.  

“One stereotypy Sharkan would display was particularly heart-breaking,” Hargrove recalled, explaining how the young orca would “isolate herself in a corner of the tank, bobbing vertically, up and down, up and down all day long as she made a noise that [he] had never heard any other orca make.” Hargrove also observed the orca swimming in repetitive patterns, obsessively burping, chewing the sides of the concrete tanks until they irreparably damaged their teeth and banging their heads against the concrete walls.

Valentin, an orca born at the park in February 1996, also displayed these self-damaging behaviours. He was Freya’s only surviving offspring and he also died last year, outliving his mother by just four months. At the time of his death, Valentin’s tank was flooded with mud from a storm that Marineland Antibes’ staff did not appear to be prepared for. This was despite the fact that there was a history of flooding in the area and that it had affected the park before. Marineland Antibes has only recently reopened its gates to the public following the 2015 flooding event and it is unclear what measures it has put in place to better protect its animals going forward.

Valentin at Marineland Antibes prior to his death (Photo © Orca Aware)

Although Valentin was the latest orca to die at Marineland Antibes, he will not be the last; four orca (and possibly a fifth, unborn) still remain. But where Calypso’s tragic death marked the start of a long trail of dead orca, Valentin brings the company full circle, dying in October, the same month of the year that his mother and all the other wild-born Icelandic orca were stolen from their native waters for display at Marineland Antibes.

The park currently has one captive-born female, Wikie (who is reportedly pregnant) and three captive-born males, Inouk, Moana and Keijo. All four animals are related and at least one is believed to be inbred. Despite this and the growing scientific evidence that orca welfare is severely compromised in captivity, Marineland Antibes has stated that, unlike SeaWorld, it will continue with its captive orca breeding programme.

“This decision shows poor leadership and a lack of vision,” Hargrove stated, going on to say that, “It is proof that Marineland Antibes is living in a world that is past and gone. The writing is clearly on the wall that the overwhelming majority do not want to see captive orca, or really any captive animals, performing tricks to line pockets.” 

An orca performing a trick at Marineland Antibes (Photo © Orca Aware)

Yvon Godefroid, founder of Belgium-based Dauphins Libres, believes that Parques Reunidos, the company that owns Marineland Antibes, should now feel “obligated to make the same change as SeaWorld in all of its parks throughout Europe and the US.” Godefroid maintains that SeaWorld’s decision to phase out orca captivity is indicative of the emerging acknowledgement that it is not ethical to keep these sentient animals in captivity. In an interview, Godefroid told Orca Aware, “This signal is loud and clear, and is the result of a changing paradigm that is being created by the way that people feel about animal welfare today.”

After perceiving how the general public’s opinion and behaviour towards orca captivity has changed in France in recent years, Godefroid believes that Marineland Antibes, as well as France’s other dolphinaria, will eventually be forced to close if they do not move away from keeping whales and dolphins. In the meantime, there is concern about how Marineland Antibes will continue breeding its orca now that genetic material from SeaWorld is no longer an option for use in its artificial insemination programme.

Godefroid explained, “It is possible that Marineland Antibes will now turn to parks with captive orca in other countries, such as South America and China, or to Russia, where wild orca are still being captured for display.” Parques Reunidos already appears to have a “cooperation agreement” with an entertainment park in China, which Arle Capital Partners announced last year.

Left to right: Wikie, Moana, Freya and Valentin at Marineland Antibes (Photo © Orca Aware)

In light of Marineland Antibes’ decision to keep breeding its orca (and other marine mammals), three organisations have teamed up to bring attention to the welfare plight that these animals are continuing to face. Orca Aware, in partnership with Dauphin Libres, US-based group Tilikum&Co, and with assistance from French organisation Code Animal, is organising a Tweetstorm event for the captives of Marineland Antibes.

“When we first started talking about doing an event for Marineland Antibes, it seemed pretty straight forward,” Haze Sommer, co-founder of Tilikum&Co, explained, “But what the research showed was a dark and insidious history with many layers, like that of an onion. Each time a layer is pulled away, another shocking revelation is exposed. What the captives of Marineland Antibes have endured is absolutely gutting and we have in excess of 200 Tweets for this event that stand testament to that fact.”

Sommer believes that such social media actions are a great way to reach a lot of people, “Tweetstorms are online events where like-minded people can join together at a designated time to Tweet a page of carefully researched, pre-scripted content. The page contains a story that has been adapted for telling on Twitter.” Sommer added that with such powerful momentum in the US to move away from whale and dolphin captivity, “it is now important to take that momentum to other parts of the world. Tweetstorms are one way of doing this.”

Inouk in a tank at Marineland Antibes (Photo © Orca Aware)

When asked why people should join the Tweetstorm, Sommer said that, “With all these animals have suffered, as human spectacles and assets for greedy corporations, they’ve earned their place in history. They deserve to have their stories told and they deserve to be remembered. This Tweetstorm will be doing that for Marineland Antibes’ captives.”

Join the Tweetstorm to help tell the stories of Marineland Antibes’ orca! The event will take place at 12pm EDT (5pm BST) on Friday 22^nd April, which is also this year’s Earth Day. You can find out more by visiting the Tilikum&Co Marineland Antibes Tweet sheet and by “attending” the Facebook event, where you will be provided with all of the information you need to participate.

Your Guide to Orca in UK Waters

by Suzie Hall 

Orca sightings in the Northern Hemisphere are often associated with the shores of Iceland, Norway, the USA or Canada. But did you know that the UK has its own resident population of orca? Furthermore, the north of Scotland is also visited by other North Atlantic populations throughout the course of the year. So grab your binoculars and head to the British coast; this short blog will take you through the best locations and times of year to spot the majestic orca in UK waters.

West Coast Community Orca

The UK has its own small, resident population known as the West Coast Community (WCC), consisting of only eight or nine individuals. Although rare to find, the WCC can be spotted year-round in the Hebrides, along the West coast of Scotland. They have also been seen off the North West coast of Ireland, and some individuals have even been seen as far south as Pembrokeshire, South Wales in the summer, typically around June and July.

Photo: © Orca Aware

This orca population is believed to be the North Atlantic Type 2 ecotype. Although relatively little is known about the WCC’s feeding habits, their ecotype would suggest they feed primarily on other marine mammals. They have been seen hunting dolphins and porpoises, and it is possible they feed on other whales too. These North Atlantic type 2 orca are generally larger than their Type 1 counterparts. Studies have also shown that they have larger and sharper teeth than the Type 1’s, which makes them more specialised for hunting larger mammals.

Scientists at the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust in Tobermory, Scotland have been gathering data on the WCC since 1994, and have recently made an interesting discovery. In the 1970s, a lone orca, dubbed Dopey Dick, swam up the River Foyle in Northern Ireland and it has just been identified that he is in fact a well-known member of the WCC, known as Comet.

The WCC also made the headlines earlier this year when a female, known as Lulu, was found dead on the Isle of Tiree in Scotland. The early necropsy released by the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme reported that there were deep lesions all over her body and that she had swallowed large amounts of sea water. They report that the most likely cause of death was entanglement in abandoned fishing gear, which subsequently led to her drowning.

Probably the most recognised member of the WCC is a male known as John Coe. He has been sighted by various organisations and members of the public since 1980 and is easily recognisable by the large notch towards the base of his dorsal fin. He is one of the individuals who has been sighted off the Irish and Pembrokeshire coasts, often accompanied by females. He hit the headlines in January 2015 when he was photographed with a large chunk missing from his tail fluke, believed to have been caused by a shark attack!

Sadly, the WCC are in danger of becoming extinct. No new calves have been seen since studies began and their dwindling population is already of a tiny size. In my next blog, I’ll be exploring how chemical pollutants found in the marine environment are likely impacting the WCC, in line with the latest scientific findings.

Photo: © Orca Aware

Visiting Orca 

During the summer months, the UK is visited by other North Atlantic Type 2 orca, as well as an entirely different ecotype, the Type 1 North Atlantics. Both visiting groups of orca are frequently sighted around the Shetland and Orkney Islands, as well as from the Scottish mainland, off the coast of Caithness.

Type 2 North Atlantic orca are actually more closely related to the Type A Antarctic ecotype. Type 2 orca, including the WCC, are larger than Type 1's and there are also differences in the orientation of their eye patches. 

Where Type 2 mammal-eating orca are ‘specialist feeders’, the Type 1 orca are considered to be ‘generalist’, primarily predating on fish species (such herring and mackerel), although they have also been known to feed on seals. This difference in dietary preference is the cause of severe tooth-wear in the Type 1 fish-eating orca, which results from friction between fish scales and an orca’s teeth when the orca ‘sucks up’ the fish.

At least seven of the Type 1 individuals sighted in Scottish waters have been identified as members of the Icelandic orca population. Although the Icelandic orca visiting UK shores primarily feed on herring, it is thought that they make their journey to the UK to coincide with the local seal-pupping season, which takes place from April to July.

How You Can Get Involved

Our knowledge of the WCC and the visiting groups of orca is increasing. However, there is still much that we have yet to learn about them.

Photo: © Orca Aware

Since 2012, a dedicated team of enthusiasts have been meeting at the northernmost tip of Scotland each May to participate in an Orca Watch week. The week, coordinated by the Sea Watch Foundation, aims to collect vital data on orca and other cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) species found off the North East Scotland coast, as well as to inform the public about the abundance of marine life right on their doorstep! From the coast of Caithness, it is possible to see the visiting Type 1 North Atlantic orca cruising around the shores in search of food. During last year’s Orca Watch week, orca were spotted, as were several other cetacean species.

This year’s Orca Watch will take place from 21^st – 28^th May and all are encouraged to participate. You can find out how to get involved in the week, and in other events, by visiting Sea Watch Foundation, Caithness Sea Watching, Whale and Dolphin Conservation and Orca Aware.

During the week there will be ample opportunity to whale watch from Duncansby Head, Caithness alongside orca experts and fellow orca enthusiasts. While it is not guaranteed, there is a good chance that orca will pass by the shoreline during this time. I will be there, along with Sam, Orca Aware’s founding manager, and we hope to see you there too!

Photos (top to bottom): Orca off the Scottish coast sighted at last year's Orca Watch, Orca from the Icelandic population & Orca dorsal fin sculpture near Duncansby Head.