At least two orca pods visited the waters of the Key Peninsula periodically for a week or 10 days in mid-April. Pod T99 was seen repeatedly in Carr and Case Inlet. An unidentified pod explored Filucy Bay.
The T99 and T123 families are transients, or Bigg’s orcas, known for hunting marine mammals, unlike the Southern Resident orcas that frequent the San Juan Islands and mainly eat fish. They are named after Canadian scientist Michael Bigg, who in the 1970s observed that the two types did not interact in their overlapping habitats. Bigg’s orcas are now considered a distinct ecotype.
Orcas live in matrilineal groups consisting of a matriarch and her descendants. Males often spend all of their lives with their mothers, but females will leave when they have calves of their own, creating a new matriline. They also form larger pods and clans composed of related matrilines, like the J, K, and L pods of the Southern Residents…