Today we had two different whale reports by the time we left the dock; J-pod coming down from East Point, and transients coming through President's channel. Along the way, we decided to go for the transients, or Bigg's killer whales. Transients are mammal-eaters, a stark contrast between their culture and that of the resident killer whales (whom eat only fish). They'll work together to hunt for harbor seals, sea lions, porpoises, or even larger whales. An adult male orca can eat about 400 pounds per day. In theory, that means two harbor seals. However, orcas are very altruistic, and each kill that a pod makes will be shared amongst them. In addition, they're able to skin and gut the seals, and then eat the more desirable muscles and other meat.
Another difference between transients and residents is their social structure. Yes, both are matriarchal, and in general led by the oldest female in the pod and stay with their mothers most or all of their life. However, the transients have a much more fluid social structure. In fact, today we were able to identify a male that has been separated from his mother and siblings a quite some time now. T77A, the son of T77 was with us today. He was swimming with a pod of 5-6 females and juveniles, whom I had never seen before. They all seemed to be taking pretty long dives, and may have been hunting, but we were able to get some really great looks at them and everyone on the boat was super excited to have seen them!
Naturalist Alex
M/V Sea Hawk, San Juan Safaris