Encounter Summary: 

Enroute to encounter incoming residents, “Chimo” encountered two Bigg’s “transients” just off of Discovery Island, British Columbia, traveling slowly WSW. When we got on scene, Heather identified the two male individuals as T049C and T077, more commonly referred to as “the twins”. Even though T049C and T077A have no genetic relation to each other, they have kept a close association with one another and are often seen traveling together. Even though they aren’t related, they both have nicks in their dorsal fins that are nearly identical. You really have to look hard to notice the difference! For some reason, these two have been good companions for some time.

While we were on scene, we witnessed T049C  engaging in some social behavior that was a bit unusual. He was rolling on his back, swimming upside down, and slapping his fluke in a relaxed manner! This was very interesting because we had not witnessed a predation event, and most social behavior from transient ecotype killer whales revolves around, or are in response to, a predation event. They have to be quiet and stealthy, in order to exploit their intelligent marine mammal prey, and therefore engaging in loud surface percussive’s (including acrobatics, such as breaches, tail-slaps, cartwheels, etc.) is not usually seen if they are intent on foraging. It was a great encounter; while it was short, we got some great identification photographs! We left the twins traveling southwest in order to catch up with the incoming southern residents in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.