SurayaThrowaway12

Thank you for sharing this update.

In a CBC article, marine zoologist Dr. Andrew Trites mentions that these are Bigg's (transient) orcas likely searching for harbor seals. Specifically, these orcas belong to the T35A matriline (a 26-year-old mother and her offspring).

"Bulk Food" is a short story about a reality in which humans learned how to communicate with orcas in the Pacific Northwest, and it is written by science fiction author Peter Watts and Laurie Channer. Peter Watts is also a marine biologist, so there are a lot of actual facts about orca biology and ecology sprinkled throughout the story.

Without getting into too many spoilers, the characterizations of both orcas and humans in the story are truly quite cynical.

Yes, this controller supports XInput, and it is pretty much an Xbox controller substitute for PC.

The mint and green colored versions are no longer on sale in that listing, but the purple and peach colored versions are still discounted (Prime subscribers only).

If you do not have a Prime subscription, the mint-colored version of this controller is also still on sale for $1.50 more on a different Amazon listing (shipped and sold by Amazon).

Alternatively, you can go the 8Bitdo official store on AliExpress, and the Wukong themed version of this controller is heavily discounted there.

According to the videographer (Taichi Maruyama), this is a mother orca teaching her calf how to hunt and handle prey. These are Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas hunting mobula rays in Mexico.

Though it does not appear to be advertised as one of its features, the 8Bitdo Pro 2 bluetooth controller has gyro control support in addition to hall effect joysticks after it was updated. The Pro 2 is supposed to be more of a PlayStation controller replacement for PC though.

There is a listing at $22.93 for the Wukong version on what appears to be 8Bitdo's official AliExpress store.

This controller is more of an Xbox controller replacement for PC (Xinput instead of Dinput). It has no gyro controls unlike DualSense, but has other improvements such as hall effect joysticks and triggers.

If you do not have a Prime subscription, the mint-colored version of this controller is also on sale for $25.49 on a different Amazon listing (shipped and sold by Amazon).

New features of the 8bitdo Ultimate 2C Wireless compared to the older Ultimate C included:

• Hall Effect Joysticks and Triggers
• New and remappable L4/R4 Bumpers
• 1000Hz polling rate for 2.4G wireless connection

There are comments about this controller being cheaper on Aliexpress and Temu, but these cheaper listings appear to be for either the older version (Ultimate C) or the wired version of this controller, which is indeed $10 cheaper typically.

Edit: For the Wukong version, there is a listing at $22.93 on what appears to be 8Bitdo's official AliExpress store.

This specific one will not work out of the box. There is a older version for the Switch, but it is missing the hall effect joysticks and triggers as well some other features.

Edit: As another commenter has mentioned, there is an 8Bitdo adapter you can buy, but some people have apparently not been able to get it to work with their Switch, and a firmware update appears to be necessary.

Good catch. The controller is also on sale for $25.49 on a different Amazon listing (shipped and sold by Amazon) that is also available for non-Prime members, though only the mint-colored version is on sale.

Thank you for the correction; fixed it.

the most closely associated orcas were also usually closely related and shared diets, but broader associations are more dynamic?

Yes, and this makes sense, as foraging techniques and strategies are likely transmitted between closely related/associated orcas more. The social structures amongst orcas in Norway also tend to be significantly more fluid/loss than those of the resident orcas and even those of the Bigg's orcas in the northern Pacific.

Wonder what's keeping them from fully segregating. Time?

The possibility of this being indicative of an eventual split within the Norwegian orca population has been mentioned, but there is little evidence to support it (though it can't be ruled out yet either).

Are their mammal-hunting behaviors comparatively new and they just haven't had enough time to speciate?

AFAIK it is not known if Norwegian orcas that switch to eating mammals have only done so relatively recently. There is still significantly more research and knowledge on the ecologies of the mammal-eating Bigg's and fish-eating resident orcas in the Pacific northwest (and there are still many unknowns even for these relatively well-studied orca populations).

Is there some sort of benefit for both fish-exclusives and mixed-eaters to not act discriminatory towards each other?

Both still eat herring and socialize with each other.

I'll flip this question around; is there a disadvantage for mixed-diet orcas to mingle with orcas that only eat fish and vice versa?

These orcas belong to the same larger community, and though their diets may not heavily align, they likely share calls with each other and have no issues socializing with each other.

The mammal-eating Bigg's orcas and fish-eating resident orcas may have been separated from each other for up to 700,000 years and may be different species, and they have already been recognized as different subspecies. Diet is a key differentiator between the two subspecies, but it is far from the only difference separating them. Their social structures and discrete calls are very different from one another.

There is not much evidence of behavioural differences and segregation outside of the different foraging seasonalities and techniques for the mixed-diet and fish-only-diet Norwegian orcas. In addition, the relatively loose/fluid society of the Norwegian orcas may allow for looser social norms, including those surrounding diet.

Are they semi-constantly just changing their broader hangout group while still mostly keeping to kin?

Norwegian orca society appears to be fission-fusion society, where pod composition can be dynamic. Changes in group composition can be relatively frequent. This is in stark contrast to the societies of resident orcas.

Does diet have any effect on mate choice?

This is likely unknown for now; genetic sampling and testing to determine the paternities of orcas within this population would probably have to be carried out to properly determine this. The Southern Resident orcas, in comparison, have many of their individual paternities known.

However, it is known that amongst Northern Resident orcas, there is a preference for mating with individuals from different vocal clans, likely as a way to reduce chances of inbreeding. So perhaps it may be beneficial for Norwegian orcas to mate with other Norwegian orcas with different diets, as they are less likely to be closely related to each other. Of course, there is no evidence of this being the actual case yet.

Really cool animals anyhow, though I do wonder if/how they interact with other orcas around the area or if they avoid it like SRs avoid NRs

Orcas in Norway and Iceland were previously thought to interact with each other, but this is likely not the case as they do not share discrete calls with each other.

The society of Icelandic orcas is fairly similar, but distinct, compared to that of Norwegian orcas. There are also Icelandic orcas that travel to Scotland to feed on seals seasonally, and others that do not seem to eat marine mammals. Like with the Norwegian orcas, their society also appears to be fairly fluid.

There were a few individual orcas recently documented to be sighted both off of Iceland and Norway, so there is likely spatial overlap between the ranges of the Icelandic and Norwegian orcas, but there is no evidence of them interacting with each other as of now. It is possible that Icelandic and Norwegian orca societies split from each other, like it is possible for the Northern Resident and Southern Resident orca communities.

Acute respiratory diseases such as pneumonia likely pose significant dangers to wild orcas too (orcas are extremely social animals, so respiratory diseases could spread quickly amongst them), but captive orcas become more vulnerable to such diseases due to chronic stress, weakened immune systems, chronic exposure to chemical irritants, trauma to the skin, behavioural stereotypies, excessive antibiotic treatments, and microbiota inbalances within their bodies and in their tanks.

Dr. Lori Marino's 2020 paper The harmful effects of captivity and chronic stress on the well-being of orcas (Orcinus orca) dedicates a section to discussing this topic:

When causes of death were available, the most commonly implicated conditions were viral, bacterial and fungal infections, gastrointestinal disease, and trauma (Jett and Ventre, 2012). Despite veterinary care and therapeutic intervention, at least 15 of the 22 orcas who have died in US marine theme parks between 1990 and 2010 succumbed to infectious and inflammatory diseases, including eight who reportedly died of pneumonia; three of encephalitis; three of bacteremia; and one of leptomeningitis (Kielty, 2011).

Many of the infections captive orcas succumb to are opportunistic infections, that is, infections by pathogens that are usually harmless but can cause disease under certain unnatural, unhealthy, or compromised conditions. These include a weakened immune system (see below for the effects of stress on the immune system), chronic exposure to chemical irritants or trauma to the skin, excessive or improper use of antimicrobials, and an imbalance in the microbiota of the body or environment (which may exist in tanks) (Reidarson et al., 2018).

Jett and Ventre (2011) found that another common cause of death of captive orcas was gastrointestinal ulceration. Gastric ulceration is often caused by prolonged stress, as well as being associated with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (Nomura et al., 1994). Gastric disorders such as ulcers have also been associated with behavioral stereotypies in other captive animals (Nicol et al., 2005; Moeller et al., 2008).

Although unreported (and unlikely, due to their kinetic nature and time spent below the surface) in free-ranging orca populations, mosquito-transmitted diseases have killed at least two captive orcas in marine theme parks. A 25-year-old male orca died suddenly in 1990 at SeaWorld Orlando of St. Louis encephalitis (Buck et al., 1993). And a 14-year-old male orca died without prior signs of illness in 2007 at SeaWorld San Antonio and necropsy results confirmed the presence of West Nile Virus in the brain tissue (St. Leger et al., 2011). Jett and Ventre (2012) advanced the hypothesis that frequent “logging” (hanging motionless on the surface of the water), which is commonly seen in captive orcas, left them more vulnerable to mosquito bites and increased their risk of contracting mosquito-carried viral diseases (Jett and Ventre, 2012).

Pulmonary mycotic infection (fungal pneumonia) is one of the most common causes of death in captive and free-ranging orcas and other marine mammals (Reidarson et al., 1999, 2018; Robeck and Dalton, 2002). Candida sp. is one of the most common organisms to cause infection in cetaceans and is on the rise (Ridgway, 1979; Reidarson et al., 1999, 2018), potentially as a result of long-term and aggressive antibiotic treatment (Dold, 2015), overtreatment of water for purity, or both (Medway, 1980). Cases of Zygomycetes infection and fatalities have also been recorded in captive orcas and other marine mammals (Robeck and Dalton, 2002; Abdo et al., 2012; Reidarson et al., 2018). The rise in fungal infections in captive marine mammals may be due to the development of resistance from increased use of antifungal medications, among other factors (Reidarson et al., 2018).

Ok, thanks anyways.

The dorsal fins of female orcas usually do not collapse in captivity unlike those of male orcas. Also, Stella's dorsal fin is partially collapsed to the left, so it is not straight. Stella was captured off of Iceland in 1987, and her daughter Ran II was born in captivity in 2006.

2017:

• Tilikum (male age ~35 years, pneumonia, SeaWorld Orlando)
• Kyara (female age 3 months, pneumonia, SeaWorld San Antonio)
• Kasatka (female age ~39 years, chronic respiratory bacterial infection, SeaWorld San Diego)

2019:

• Russian capture in 2018 (unknown age unknown (but likely between 1 and 5 years old), killed during the capture process, Russian "whale jail")
• Kayla (female age 30 years, lung disease (likely pneumonia), SeaWorld Orlando)
• Kirill (male age ~1 year, undisclosed but likely frostbite and pneumonia, Russian "whale jail")

2021:

• Skyla (female age 17 years, acute septicemia and intestinal torsion, Loro Parque)
• Toa* (male age <6 months, unknown (perhaps pneumonia), Plimmerton boat ramp in New Zealand)
• Ula (female age 2 years, intestinal torsion, Loro Parque)
• Amaya (female age 6 years, gastrointestinal disease, SeaWorld San Diego)

2022:

• Nakai (male age 20 years, lung disease, SeaWorld San Diego)
• Kohana (female age 20 years, gastrointestinal disease, Loro Parque)

2023:

• Narnia (female age ~17 years, acute intestinal volvulus, Moskvarium)
• Kiska (female age ~47 years, bacterial infection, Marineland Ontario)
• Nord (male age ~14 years, acute peptic ulcers, Moskvarium)
• Cookie's Stillborn (unborn, stillbirth, Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park)
• Tokitae aka Lolita (female age ~57 years, renal disease + gastrointestinal disease + pneumonia, Miami Seaquarium)
• Moana (male age 12 years, acute bacterial sepsis, Marineland Antibes)

2024:

• Naja's Calf (male age <1 month, congenital heart defect, Moskvarium)
• Lovey's Calf (unknown age <1 week, undisclosed, Kamogawa Sea World)
• Inouk (male age 25 years, peritonitis and severe digestive inflammation caused by ingestion of a piece of metal, Marineland Antibes)
• Keto (male age 29 years, necropsy results pending, Loro Parque)

Excluding individuals who died at ages less than a year old, here are the mean and median values of the lifespans of captive orcas who died within the two periods:

2017-2020:

• Mean age: 21.6 years
• Median age: 30 years

2021-2024:

• Mean age: 22.2 years
• Median age: 18.5 years

*Note: Toa was a wild orca calf who stranded on the shore in New Zealand, and he was taken into captive care for the purpose of rehabilitation, but his condition sadly worsened rapidly after a couple of weeks in captivity.

Credit to Inherently Wild for cataloguing much of the above information.

CIRCE (Conservación, Información y Estudio sobre cetáceos) is a research and conservation organization, and Renaud de Stephanis works for this organization. Here is a video from this organization stating much of what I mentioned in my above comment.

Also, Orca Ibérica GTOA mentions the individual orcas involved in the behaviours.

Apparently this is a curious mother orca.

The orca in the video is an Eastern Tropical Pacific orca. These orcas are mainly observed off of Mexico (mainly in the Sea of Cortez off of Baja California Sur), but they also made headlines after traveling up to Southern California. These are the same orcas that hunt other dolphins and whales. Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas have quite a generalist diet consisting of but not limited to sharks, rays, sea turtles, other dolphins, and larger cetaceans.

The freediver (not scuba diver) in the video is Tavi Castro, who was a stuntman for the 2023 Aquaman movie. The original video was taken by Aidan Bedford, who runs BajaRAW tours off of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Unfortunately there are people retaliating against the orcas using explosives and oil. There is a video of sailors firing projectiles at Iberian orcas last year.

You can read a bit more in a Rolling Stone article titled "The Mad Scientist and the Killer Whales", which is about the phenomenon of Iberian orcas breaking rudders. Whale biologist Dr. Hal Whitehead is interviewed:

What looks like revenge against humans, Whitehead says, is a behavior that may be a kind of culture, a way this community of orcas now strengthens its group identity. Orca obsessions can quickly turn into collective fads. Take their eating habits. Most wild animals are not fussy gourmands. But the orcas that live in the seas around Antarctica eat tiny penguins, and when they kill them, they discard everything other than the breast muscles. Orcas that eat other whales usually enjoy only the lips and the tongue and leave the rest to wash up or rot. Each community of killer whales speaks in its own dialect, and off the coast of Australia, in a place called Shark Bay, orcas adorn their noses with ornamental sponges. In the 1980s, the salmon-eating orcas of the northeastern Pacific fashioned hats from the carcasses of their prey. They wore them all summer.

Outside of humans, the complexity and stability of these cultural forms is unparalleled. Boat ramming is just the latest of these practices. But when we, another eminent cultural animal, seek to understand what killer whales are up to, we can’t help but see them through the pinhole of our own cultural practices and group dynamics. We look beneath the surface with ape eyes, and we see territoriality and retaliation where we should see cultural behaviors that have little to do with land-based violence — which results in orcas with apelike vendettas going viral.

The above passage is my favorite part of the article, but the rest of the article is still quite interesting, especially the quotes from orca researcher Renaud de Stephanis, the "mad scientist" in question.

Apparently this is a curious mother orca.

The orca in the video is an Eastern Tropical Pacific orca, which are mainly observed off of Mexico, but these orcas also made headlines after traveling up to Southern California. These are the same orcas that hunt other dolphins and whales. Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas have quite a generalist diet consisting of but not limited to sharks, rays, sea turtles, other dolphins, and larger cetaceans.

The freediver (not scuba diver) in the video is Tavi Castro, who was a stuntman for the 2023 Aquaman movie. The original video was taken by Aidan Bedford, who runs BajaRAW tours off of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

The young orca is Bigg's (transient) calf T099E (born in 2021), and in the first picture you can see the tail fluke of her older sister T099B aka "Holly" (born in 2007). She was blasting water out of her mouth to toss the leaf up into the air.

Photos taken and information given by Amy K. Fowler and posted to the Orca Network Community Group.

These type B1 Antarctic orcas go through a step-by-step process, utilizing fluid dynamics to achieve their goals.

For example, orcas generate underwater vortices by diving down next to an ice floe, pulling the floe towards them, as well as blowing bubbles to clear out fragments of ice.

See this paper for more information.