A whale watching expedition caught an extremely rare sight over the weekend, when a pod of 30 killer whales were spotted swimming and playing together in Monterey Bay, California for more than eight hours.
As onlookers watched, the whales put on quite the show. The group jumped into the air—sometimes several at once—spewed water from their blowholes, and slapped the surface with their tails. Drone footage of the gathering was captured by Evan Brodsky, in which the whales could be seen essentially having the time of their lives.
Nancy Black, a marine biologist who owns Monterey Bay Whale Watch, described the encounter as the most incredible orca sighting she's seen in her 35 years of experience. "Just like kids that are in a park, they get excited and play with the other kids and may be more active," Black told the Guardian. "The little ones were wrestling and rolling like a bunch of puppies."
The nonprofit organization California Killer Whale Project, of which Black also serves as director, has spent three decades cataloging the killer whales that visit Monterey Bay and was able to identify many of the animals by their markings. The whales are believed to have descended from 11 different orca families across California and Canada. However, it's unclear how the group met up.
Although orcas communicate with underwater vocalizations, their sounds can only travel about 10 miles. As such, it's mystery how they all ended up in Monterey Bay together. Typically, the whales frequent the bay in April and May to hunt gray whale calves, but a gathering of so many in mid-June was unusual, to say the least.
Morgan Quimby of Monterey Bay Whale Watch told KTVU Fox 2 News that she believes the orcas were likely well fed and celebrating a successful hunt.
"We heard they had a sea lion earlier in the morning," Quimby explained. "It was pure energy and celebration. The little calves were rubbing up against each other—we call those 'cuddle puddles.'"
It's been an interesting year for unusual killer whale behavior. Halfway across the world, orcas have taken to attacking ships off of Europe's Iberian Coast, in what was initially believed to have been learned behavior stemming from one "traumatized" whale. But as the incidents have continued to escalate, sailors are being warned to avoid areas with killer whale activity or sailing at night.
In Monterey Bay, at least, the whales were too preoccupied with having fun to pose a danger to humans.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/vfSbiwL
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