#Killer Whales of the Bremer Sub-Basin

[snini-9]

Alright guys! I’ve decided to share a multi year project that I’ve been doing! Years ago, this project was starting as a Microsoft Power Point Presentation that I never shared, just made (with a LOT in inaccuracies. Young (10/11 year old snini wasn’t the brightest xD)) for my own enjoyment. In 2018ish, I started redoing the power points. In 2019, I decided to start logging them on a google doc, then a google spread sheet (at my mom’s urging because “google docs are NOT THE WAY TO LOG INFO SNINI”) and now, ~6 years from when this whole project started, I’ve decided to log them on a site. 

I would like to introduce you to the Worldwide Killer Whale Database! 

https://sites.google.com/view/worldwidekillerwhaledatabase/home?authuser=0

This database is suuuper bare bones right now, but I did just get the J2/J14 and J7/J16 matrilines inputted. I hope to slowly build this site up over my free time, but it will likely take me a while. 

Now, you may be thinking, “Snini? But WHY?” and my answer to that is this: This has been a lifelong passion for me, my love for killer whales. Let me tell you how I became who I am today.  I was 4-5 (so 11 ish years ago) and I went to the Seattle Aquarium (I'd gone many times before), but I was finally old enough to really gain (or start to gain) a passion for orcas. At the time though, I was a paleontologist wannabe and was really confusing my teachers because they'd be like "so, snini, what do you want to be when you grow up?" and I'd always reply with " A PALEONTOLOGIST :D" and would confuse the poor ladies who had no clue what the fuck that was xD. I'd always loved the Southern Residents (the local community of Killer Whales) and collected the Seattle Aquariums Orca Trading Cards (and, admittedly, I still do out of obsession xD). I would paw through the three rows that we could dig through until I found ones that I didn't already have and I'd bring them back to my dad and he'd put them in his pocket and give them back when we got home or when I wanted them back at the aquarium xD. When it was in 2nd or third grade, the obsession really hit hard and I pivoted from dinos to cetas. Since then, I've been an avid ceta nerd who has a love for dinos and who gets excited over all things ceta (and dino) related.I loved the J2 Granny card so much that I had to "laminate" it in tape and I still have her card to this day. Now, jump forwards 11ish years and I’m applying to get into ORCA (Ocean Research Collage Academy) to try to jumpstart getting a career based in the Marine Sciences, specifically centered around the Salish Sea and the orcas that inhabit it. 

With that said, I hope you enjoy watching me build this site. I will periodically post about finishing ‘milestones’ here (finishing pods, pages, or communities/populations). 

Stay safe my friends!

-Snini

[respectanimalrights]

Credit to @pnwprotectors "Killer whale (Orcinus orca) abundance in the Bremer Sub-Basin.” 🌏🌊🐬 • A HUGE congratulations to our Honours student Emily Evans handing in her thesis at CMST, Curtin University today. Emily's Honours thesis is titled "Killer whale (Orcinus orca) abundance in the Bremer Sub-Basin, Western Australia: A photo-identification study". 🐋🌊💦🌏 Emily has been busy this year crunching and analyzing data, going through thousands of images taken of the Bremer killer whales. 📷🐬 Her research looked into an abundance estimate of the killer whales found in the Bremer Sub-Basin during the Austral summer and fall using photo identification and non-invasive mark-recapture techniques. 📷🐋📷 • This research is a first in Australia for the killer whale populations found in our waters 🌏🌏Very exciting work and we are so proud of you Emily! Well done! 👏🏽✨🎉 #projectorca #orcatalkoz #killerwhaleresearchaustralia

[snini-9]

Master List of Killer Whale Photo ID Guides

Southern Residents

J Pod K Pod L Pod Southern Residents (All three pods) *always updated*

West Coast Community Killer Whales

Killer Whales of the Bremer Sub-Basin (photo ID guide available on the site)

Killer whales of the Crozet Islands

1

2

3

Northern Resident Killer Whales

1

2

3

Russian Killer Whales

1

2

Punta Norte Killer Whales

Killer Whales of the Eastern North Atlantic Biggs Killer Whales (West Coast Transients)

Marion Island Killer Whales

Killer whales of southern Alaska

Killer Whales off Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

Icelandic Killer Whales

New Zealand Orcas

Killer Whales of Seal Island (Falkland Islands)

California Transients 

1

2

Northern Isles Pod

1

2

3

Norwegian Orcas

1

2

Icelandic/scottish orcas

1

2

Killer Whales of Greenland

Killer Whales of the Eastern Tropical Pacific 

[respectanimalrights]

Education from @orcatalkoz ~ORCA FUN FACT FRIDAY~ 🐋 Killer whales are apex predators- they are at the top of the food chain. And whilst this means we get to witness such encounters as this one- a predation upon a beaked whale in 2016 seen in the Bremer Sub Basin- this also means that as they sit at the top of the food chain, they are susceptible to an increase in toxins in their tissues due to processes of bioaccumulation and biomagnification. And what this means in basic terms is killer whales can be some of the most toxic animals in our oceans! ☢️🐋☢️ In 2016, a killer whale named Lulu stranded and died in Scotland waters. Necropsy results showed Lulu had one of the highest levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) pollution ever recorded in the species! 🐋 Analysis of Lulu’s blubber revealed PCB concentrations 80 times higher than the accepted PCB toxicity threshold for marine mammals. High PCB levels are linked to poor health, impaired immune function, increased susceptibility to cancers and infertility. 🐋 Once PCBs get into the marine environment, they are difficult if not impossible to remove. They accumulate through food webs and persist over time. Killer whales, which can live for many decades and feed right at the top of the food chain, are particularly susceptible to their effects. 🐋🌱 In a global review of marine apex predators, the killer whale remains one of the most PCB-contaminated mammalian species and is likely to be impacted throughout their entire global range (Jepson and Law 2016). 🐋🌏 Going forward, the most important actions will be to identify sources of current PCB contamination and to avoid any more input into the oceans and seas. To do so, several processes and treaties have been set up at both the global and regional level. Complete, proactive implementation of their conclusions will improve the fate of marine animals and their environment. Such decisive actions are required to protect the incredible creatures swimming below the surface in all our oceans. 🐋☢️ Hope you enjoyed a detailed Fun Fact Friday! We sure enjoy sharing our knowledge. Any requests for us to touch on in the coming weeks? 🐋🌎🌊☣️🌱🌏 #projectorca #killerwhal