Amazing Grandmothers of the Southern Resident orca community

— from Center for Whale Research —

These matriarchs teach the other orcas how to fish and where to find Chinook salmon; they also give up to 90% of the salmon they catch to the younger whales in their pod,

K12 and family (photograph by Dave Ellifrit, CWR)

The blog content that follows below first appeared in the June 2019 issue of the WHALE Report (Centre for Whale Research Member-exclusive quarterly newsletter). These newsletters are full of compelling information and magnificent photographs of orcas. If you aren’t already a CWR Member, consider becoming one. Your financial support helps us continue our studies and speak out on behalf of the Southern Resident orcas. Learn more >

Off the rugged coast of the Pacific Northwest, pods of killer whales inhabit the frigid waters. Each family is able to survive here thanks mainly to one member, its most knowledgeable hunter: the grandmother.

These matriarchs can live eighty years or more, while most males die off in their thirties. Though killer whales inhabit every major ocean, until recently we knew very little about them. The details of their lives eluded scientists until an organization called the Center for Whale Research began studying a single population near Washington State and British Columbia in 1976. Thanks to their ongoing work, we’ve learned a great deal about these whales, known as the Southern Residents. And the more we learn, the more this population’s elders’ vital role comes into focus.

Each grandmother starts her life as a calf born into her mother’s family group, or matriline. The family does everything together, hunting and playing, even communicating through their own unique set of calls. Both sons and daughters spend their entire lives with their mothers’ families.

Dr. Darren Croft is the Center for Whale Research’s Scientific Advisor (Animal Social Networks) and Professor of Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter (Exeter, Devon, UK). His behavioral ecologist research interests lie in two main areas:

• What are the mechanisms and functions that underpin the structure of animal societies?
• What are the evolutionary implications of this structure?