Southern Resident Killer Whale L-Pod Calls in Folger Passage (Part 1) 

I love the L pod! Do you think Lolita (Tokitae) might see them again one day?

Orcas, also known as killer whales or blackfish, are the largest species of dolphin, growing to a maximum of 9.8 m long and 10,000 kg. They can swim at a maximum speed of 48 km/h and travel 120-160 km per day. They are a cosmopolitan species, living in all oceans of the world. Orcas are highly social creatures. They are one of few species that are known to exhibit culture, and one of fewer still with different cultural groups inhabiting the same geographic area without interacting with one another. Cultural groups of orcas differ in vocal dialect, social organization, behaviour, prey and hunting tactics. Some groups have not interbred with others for hundreds of thousands of years, and may actually be different species. There are several described ecotypes of orcas, which differ both in culture and in physical morphology. There are three ecotypes and four cultural groups of orcas in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Resident orcas are the most studied group of orcas in the northeast Pacific Ocean, because they return yearly to the same summer and fall feeding grounds. They are strongly matrilineal, and have the most stable social organization of any known animal. They remain with their mothers throughout their lives. They eat chinook salmon almost exclusively, though their diet may include other salmonids, rockfish and Pacific herring to a lesser extent. They depend on echolocation to find their food, and have been known to share their catches with each other. They can be differentiated from the other two ecotypes in this geographic area by their falcate, rounded dorsal fins and variation in "openness" of their saddle patches. They typically have fewer scars than the other ecotypes. Male resident orcas average 8.2 m long and 4,082 kg. Females average 7.3 m long and 3,175 kg. There are two separate populations of the northeast Pacific Ocean. The Northern Resident population is the larger of the two, and includes three different acoustic clans. They range from Southern Vancouver Island to Alaska, and are often seen in Johnstone Strait during the summer and fall. The smaller population, the Southern Residents, consists of only one acoustic clan, and is considered endangered. They spend much of the summer near and around San Juan Island, though their full range extends South to California and North to Haida Gwaii.