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63 About this deal
Orcas worldwide face a number of threats. They get caught in fishing nets and gear accidentally, face problems with toxic waste and pollution in the sea. Increase in boat traffic can result in collisions with orcas and an increase in underwater noise pollution.
The Seasound Remote Sensing Network, which includes the hydrophone array at the Lime Kiln Point lighthouse. This array is part of the broader OrcaSound.net network which streams live on the internet. This helps us monitor underwater noise which can affect an orca's ability to communicate and find prey.
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A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. If you can’t decide which of our adorable animals you want to adopt, you may be interested in becoming a Born Free supporter by setting up a monthly donation. The money we receive from our regular donations is unrestricted, and allows us to support the projects that need it the most. Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) suffer physically and mentally from life in captivity. The physical, sensory and social environment in which these animals have evolved to live contrasts dramatically with the restricted and barren tanks found in dolphinaria, where cetaceans are held for viewing or performance to entertain visitors. How Born Free is working on this issue Dolphins and whales are closely related. Orcas were given the name ‘killer whale’ by ancient sailors’ observations of groups of orcas hunting and preying on larger whale species. Their Latin name, Orcinus orca, also reflects this observation of orcas feeding on large whales. Orcinus translates to ‘of the kingdom of the dead,’ and orca refers to a kind of whale. We know that orcas are top predators, yes, but not the vicious ‘whale killers’ that the ancient mariners thought them to be. If you could give orcas another name, what would you call them? What do orcas eat?
Scientists now recognise several kinds of orcas (called ecotypes). They hunt specific prey and live in different parts of the world. Find out more about them. What threats do orcas face? No discussion on the seasonal movement of orcas around Britain would be complete without discussing our Viking visitors! Over the years the Icelandic Orca Project has catalogued well over 400 orcas and one fascinating story to come out of a photo ID comparison between Scotland and Iceland is the fact that a small percentage of this population regularly make the 1400 km journey each spring, leaving the herring behind to hunt for seals off the Scottish coast. To get around this, orcas only allow one half of their brains to sleep at a time; the other half stays alert enabling them to continue breathing whilst looking out for dangers in the environment. They only close one eye when they sleep; the left eye will be closed when the right half of the brain sleeps, and vice versa. This type of sleep is known as unihemispheric sleep as only one brain hemisphere sleeps at a time. Orcas periodically alternate which side is sleeping so that they can get the rest they need without ever losing consciousness. When sleeping, orcas swim very slowly and steadily, close to the surface. How do orcas communicate? Holly tends to favour the southerly waters of Georgia Strait during the winter months and sometimes during the summer as well. So much of Holly’s family history has been connected with these southerly waters. Before she was born, in 1968 and again in 1969 her entire pod was captured. Tragically, 12 orcas were taken from the wild into captivity. Holly’s mother, grandmother and uncle were among the six who were left behind, no doubt scarred from living through such a traumatic experience. Holly has certainly always avoided the location where her family was captured, speaking to the deep connections within orca families that span generations. Heading further north again to the outer realm of the British Isles, the Shetland and Orkney Islands boast the most sightings of orca in the UK. Orcas can be seen here at any time of the year. The more regularly encountered pods are known as the 64s - comprising four individuals, the 65s - a group of six, and the 27s with eight members. Until relatively recently, the 64s and 65s were one group but split for reasons that remain unclear. Maybe it was the death of a matriarch or because they reached their natural maximum group size for hunting seals and are now more effective as smaller units. Interestingly, in 2017 the 27s pod headed from Shetland to the north coast of Iceland. This pod has been observed preying on harbour porpoises at both locations.
Our biggest effort is our Exhibit Hall which is open to the public nearly year-round. Through two floors of exhibits, visitors learn more about the Southern Resident Community of orcas, other marine mammals and the Salish Sea ecosystem. We hope that by learning about this richly diverse yet fragile ecosystem, visitors will be inspired to become better stewards. For many people it is a lifelong dream to swim with dolphins. However, Born Free is convinced that few people would partake in the practice if they knew that such interactions could be highly stressful and damaging for the animals.
Proceeds from orca adoptions support ongoing education, research and public outreach on behalf of the Southern Resident Community of killer whales. NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads. Born Free is a member of the Dolphinaria-Free Europe coalition, established in 2014, representing a global community of NGOs and professionals working together on behalf of cetaceans throughout Europe. Born Free works to raise awareness of poor conditions and encourage an informed public to consider directing their support away from keeping cetaceans in captivity. We are proud to have rescued individual captive cetaceans, rehabilitating them and safely returning them to the wild, and we support the development of high-quality sanctuaries to provide improved lifetime care for cetaceans currently in captivity who cannot be released to the wild. What you can do to helpCaptive cetaceans are often used in swim-with programmes throughout the day, as well as performing in shows. They may also be used for visitor souvenir photographs, during which the animals may be trained to jump out and ‘beach’ themselves on the edge of the concrete pool. Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. Born Free campaigns for changes to national and international legislation to bring the exploitation of cetaceans in captivity to an end, whilst calling for higher standards of care and animal welfare in the short term. As a priority, Born Free calls for the end to wild capture and breeding of cetaceans in captivity, and an end to the training of cetaceans to perform unnatural behaviour and interacting with humans in swim-with and petting activities. A few weeks after the event many of us gathered to attend an online event to discuss the Sea Watch Foundation’s preliminary data. Seven species of whales, dolphins and porpoises were recorded over the weeks: Having multiple prey items to choose from probably led to the niche specialisations we see today – millions of year ago, different groups started eating different things to avoid competing for the same food. Now these groups are genetically different, in addition to their unique appearance and cultures.
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