An amazing and heartwarming story that might even affect some of the more hard core grouches here you never know
B.C.'s matriarch orca 'Granny' is still going strong at 103
J2 or ‘Granny’ is the whale at left in this photo taken Saturday in the southern Strait of Georgia.
If orcas were to celebrate Mother’s Day, J-Pod would have had a really big party Sunday.The festivities would be for J2 — more commonly known as Granny, the world’s oldest known orca.Granny is believed to be 103 years old, which is far in excess of the average lifespan of 60 to 80 years for a wild orca.
Captain Simon Pidcock of Ocean EcoVentures in Cowichan Bay was happy to spot the distinctive whale on Friday in the waters between Point Roberts in Washington state and East Point on Saturna Island.
“We’re all really excited to see her come back,” Pidcock said Sunday during a break from participating in his own Mother’s Day celebration.
There was no doubt the orca was Granny, according to Pidcock.
He could recognize the senior cetacean by her saddle patch, a distinctive white patch each whale has behind its dorsal fin.
“They’re like our fingerprints,” said Pidcock.
Granny is also recognizable because of a half-moon-shaped notch on the trailing side of her dorsal fin.
“I’ve seen her thousands and thousands of times,” said Pidcock.
Granny is one of the southern resident group of orcas that inhabit the coastal waters from Haida Gwaii to Northern California for about eight months of the year.
She appeared healthy because of the state of her “peanut head,” which Pidcock said is a divot-like depression around the animal’s blow hole.
“She looked really healthy, still going strong,” said Pidcock. “We’re really excited to have her back.’
Granny’s healthy appearance may come from feasting on the recent big chinook runs near the Columbia River.
But she’s also been doing a lot of travelling.
Michael Harris, executive director of Pacific Whale Watch Association, which has members in both the U.S. and Canada, said J-Pod was spotted off the Russian River in Northern California just over a week ago.
“The thing I found really, really interesting is that she’s in the shape to travel, to make the trek she just did with J-Pod,” said Harris. “That’s 800 miles in not even eight days. It’s amazing.”
Harris said Granny’s birth date of 1911 is an extrapolation by researchers based on her offspring.
Granny currently has a great-grandchild travelling in J-Pod.
Pidcock said researchers also determine age based on the size of the whales, and Granny’s current bulk can be compared to photographic images of her dating back to the late 1930s and early 1940s.
The oldest orcas in captivity are both about 50 years old, according to the Pacific Whale Watch Association, and belong to the northern and southern resident groups that travel through the Pacific Northwest.
B.C.'s matriarch orca 'Granny' is still going strong at 103
J2 or ‘Granny’ is the whale at left in this photo taken Saturday in the southern Strait of Georgia.
If orcas were to celebrate Mother’s Day, J-Pod would have had a really big party Sunday.The festivities would be for J2 — more commonly known as Granny, the world’s oldest known orca.Granny is believed to be 103 years old, which is far in excess of the average lifespan of 60 to 80 years for a wild orca.
Captain Simon Pidcock of Ocean EcoVentures in Cowichan Bay was happy to spot the distinctive whale on Friday in the waters between Point Roberts in Washington state and East Point on Saturna Island.
“We’re all really excited to see her come back,” Pidcock said Sunday during a break from participating in his own Mother’s Day celebration.
There was no doubt the orca was Granny, according to Pidcock.
He could recognize the senior cetacean by her saddle patch, a distinctive white patch each whale has behind its dorsal fin.
“They’re like our fingerprints,” said Pidcock.
Granny is also recognizable because of a half-moon-shaped notch on the trailing side of her dorsal fin.
“I’ve seen her thousands and thousands of times,” said Pidcock.
Granny is one of the southern resident group of orcas that inhabit the coastal waters from Haida Gwaii to Northern California for about eight months of the year.
She appeared healthy because of the state of her “peanut head,” which Pidcock said is a divot-like depression around the animal’s blow hole.
“She looked really healthy, still going strong,” said Pidcock. “We’re really excited to have her back.’
Granny’s healthy appearance may come from feasting on the recent big chinook runs near the Columbia River.
But she’s also been doing a lot of travelling.
Michael Harris, executive director of Pacific Whale Watch Association, which has members in both the U.S. and Canada, said J-Pod was spotted off the Russian River in Northern California just over a week ago.
“The thing I found really, really interesting is that she’s in the shape to travel, to make the trek she just did with J-Pod,” said Harris. “That’s 800 miles in not even eight days. It’s amazing.”
Harris said Granny’s birth date of 1911 is an extrapolation by researchers based on her offspring.
Granny currently has a great-grandchild travelling in J-Pod.
Pidcock said researchers also determine age based on the size of the whales, and Granny’s current bulk can be compared to photographic images of her dating back to the late 1930s and early 1940s.
The oldest orcas in captivity are both about 50 years old, according to the Pacific Whale Watch Association, and belong to the northern and southern resident groups that travel through the Pacific Northwest.
