🌍Where are you celebrating from? 🌏 Happy World Orca Month! How do you feel passionate about, and connected to, killer whales locally or globally? Celebrate World Orca Day with us on the 14th of July!
दुनिया को ओर्का महीने की शुभकामनाएँ! क्या आप स्थानीय और/या वैश्विक स्तर पर किलर व्हेल के प्रति भावुक और जुड़ाव महसूस करते हैं? 14 जुलाई को हमारे साथ विश्व ओर्का दिवस मनाएँ!
Vi feirer verdens Spekkhogger-måned! Hva får deg til å føle deg lidenskapelig om og knyttet til spekkhoggere lokalt og/eller globalt? Feir verdens spekkhuggerdag med oss 14. juli!
¡Feliz mes mundial de las orcas! ¿Te sientes apasionado y conectado con las orcas a nivel local y/o global? ¡Celebra con nosotros el día mundial de la orca el 14 de julio!
Gleðilegan alþjóðlegan háhyrninga mánuð! Hefur þú áhuga á að tengjast háhyrningum í nærumhverfi og/eða á heimsvísu? Fagnaðu mánuði háhyrnings með okkur 14.júlí!
世界シャチの月間おめでとう！
世界中でシャチへの意識を高めましょう!
情熱をどのように示しますか？
7月14日で世界シャチの日は祝いましょう。
Chúc mừng tháng orca thế giới! Bạn cảm thấy được kết nối với cá voi sát thủ ở địa phương hoặc toàn cầu như thế nào? Kỷ niệm ngày orca thế giới với chúng tôi vào ngày 14 tháng 7!
世界虎鲸月快乐！您觉得您与当地或全球的虎鲸有什么联系？7 月 14 日与我们一起庆祝世界虎鲸日！
#worldorcaday #orca #killerwhale #orcas #シャチ #オルカ #海 #研究 #鯨類 #鳥獣 #自然界 #世界シャチの日 #alþjoðlegurhahyrningadagur #hahyrningar #haf #rannsóknir #hvalir #dýralíf #spekkhugger #hav #forskning #spekkhoggere #hval #dyreliv #natur #महासागर #अनुसंधान #वन्यजीव #प्रकृति #虎鲸
🌏Our mission 😎 There are many ways to get involved and we hope you're excited for World Orca Month (July), Week (13th-19th), and Day (14th)!
#killerwhale #orca #orcinusorca #worldorcaday #ocean #nature #wildlife #conservation #research #community #nonprofit
From our small volunteer team to you, thank you!! Outreach grew exponentially across the board and it was remarkable how many people got involved. We saw an incredible amount of beautiful posts, articles and more that everyone contributed. Stay tuned for 2026 and get your friends, family and coworkers excited for the festivities. Let’s amplify orca together! Is there anything you’d like to see next year?
World Orca Day, World Orca Week and World Orca Month provide an opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness of orca, share emerging research, increase interest in and protection of the marine environment, elevate orca-related stories, inspire others to get involved and use their talent and resources toward innovative projects and protective measures, strengthen connections between those interested in orca, plan community events and more.
Thank you to each of you, the teams for the highlights they shared and those that were involved in the Q & A live-stream event!
@baycetology@caribbeanwideorcaproject@centerforwhaleresearch@orca_charity@_janek_andre_@orcaingrid@orcaresearchtrust@orcas.en.costarica@pn_orca@sarahconnor@seashepherdfrance@wewhale_org
#orca #killerwhale #worldorcamonth #cetacean #ocean #scicomm #education #research #science
As we celebrate some of the many types of orca worldwide, we have a highlight from the Center for Whale Research (CWR) on Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs). CWR monitors and studies SRKWs in their critical habitat: the Pacific Northwest’s Salish Sea. They perform an annual census and regular health assessments of the population, inform governments of the whales’ ecosystem needs, share their stories with the world, and promote ecosystem recovery.
In June, the CWR published a study documenting that SRKWs make and use tools. They have named this newly observed behavior allokelping. When taking part in allokelping, the whales take pieces of kelp they have trimmed down with their teeth and then proceed to swim alongside a partner, rolling the kelp between them. This may be a form of social grooming or bonding.
What made this discovery possible? In a word: drones. High-resolution drone technology has transformed how the CWR Research team is able to study whales in the Salish Sea. From the water’s surface, many social behaviors go unseen or are difficult to fully understand. But from above, researchers gain a new view of interactions that reveal more information on communication and connection between these whales.
To stay up to date with the Southern Resident killer whales and the Center for Whale Research, you can follow them on their social account @centerforwhaleresearch
Read the free, full-length study, link in bio.
Ever wondered which orca project you should support? Please consider donating to the Global Orca Charity (@orca_charity )...
Global Orca Charity was founded to support orca projects around the world. They provide charitable assistance for:
-Scientific research
-Public education
-Rescue, rehab and release
-Reports and publications
-Conference attendance
-Professional expertise to better understand and protect wild and captive orca
-Advancing global awareness of the species
The charity is a non-profit governed by a board of twelve directors who discuss, and prioritise by urgency, proposals from around the world to allocate funds. They are on the European Union Transparency register and have Platinum Transparency status with Candid. Find out more through their website, link in bio.
@caribbeanwideorcaproject@iberian_orca_guardians@orcaingrid@orcaresearchtrust@pn_orca@seashepherdfrance@seashepherdfrance_english@wewhale_org
This #worldorcamonth let’s show support for orca! Have fun, inspire others, challenge yourself and build community. The health of orca, the ocean and ourselves is interconnected. Take action today and we can make a difference!
🌊Integrate knowledge in innovative ways
🌏Get to know the outdoors from multiple perspectives
🌊Mitigate human-wildlife conflict
🌍Lean into sustainable living practices
🌊Amplify education and stories about orca
🌎Engage with others
🌊Take time to slow down and observe
🌍Foster (and share) love of place
🌊Commit to lifelong learning
#worldorcaday #oceanhealth #healthycommunities #biodiversity #hope #empowerment #communitybuilding #science #research
Photo-identification (photo-ID) is important for observing orca populations for a variety of reasons. With it, researchers can study things such as habitat use, births and deaths, age and sex classifications, abundance, range and distribution, social structure, life span, behaviour, diet and body condition, depending on the project. Catalogues are created to monitor populations and individuals over time.
The process requires dedication to capture usable images, i.e. high-quality, in-focus and taken from a useful angle, and then to identify individuals from the photographs. Sometimes elements such as weather, geographic location and/or population distribution provide additional challenges. It can take a lot of time to collect and process data. However, the images provide valuable information.
Historically, images were taken for photo-ID perpendicular to the orca’s left side saddle patch and dorsal fin, looking at pigmentation, shape and scars, including any nicks or notches. Images of the right side, eye patches, or tail flukes, aerial views and more can also be used for identification.
There are a variety of ways to report sightings and citizen science platforms that could use your help! Discover a few of the projects we’ve highlighted for World Orca Month or research opportunities near you. #photoidentification #research #science #marinebiology #killerwhale #orca #ocean
🕵️Identifying images of orca that have been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Start by familiarising yourself with some of the basic visual elements that distinguish an orca, such as the saddle patch, dorsal fin and eye patch.
Now, look at the image critically. Do the various elements seem correct? Where is the eye patch located; does it have one? Look closely at multiple areas such as the pectoral fins, dorsal fin and rostrum. Sometimes, AI will combine elements of various species into one animal.
If details such as shadows, lighting, texture, reflections, patterns, colours, background objects or image quality appear unusual, you might be noticing something that AI has misplaced.
Look for more information about the image that leads you to an original source, and gauge it's trustworthiness. Additionally, you can help others identify images that are not real to reduce misinformation. At this stage, AI images can confuse people who aren’t familiar with orca anatomy or who haven’t had a close look at the image. AI-generated imagery can spread false news and sometimes encourage human behaviours which are harmful to wildlife.
🔍What are some of the elements in this image that are incorrect?👀
As a founding collaborator of @worldorcaday , the @orcaresearchtrust (ORT) is excited to reveal an updated website with a variety of free resources for World Orca Month (July)!
ORT works to protect orca and their habitat, through conservation, education and scientific research. The team’s main focus is orca in New Zealand. However, ORT is also involved with a variety of orca projects around the world, including in Antarctica, Argentina and Papua New Guinea.
Additionally, the Trust helps raise awareness of orca around the world with World Orca Day and the plight of captive orca through projects such as the Free Morgan Foundation.
Explore the website (link in bio) and you’ll find things such as:
-Activities for kids
-The NZ orca photo ID catalogue
-Information on stranding, rescue and entanglement
-Open-access scientific articles
-Multimedia resources
-Advice for studying marine biology
-Pages on projects around the world that the ORT is involved with
-How to get involved
-Background on the team
We hope you’ll join us in championing the values of appreciation, conservation, advocacy, community building and education surrounding orca today and every day.
Thank you to René Unger (@cpurene ) for these beautiful updates! #orca #research #education #conservation #killerwhale #ocean
"In November 2009, a remarkable sighting of orcas between Aruba and Venezuela, captured by Aruban Coast Guard officer Gino Werleman, sparked a regional alliance for marine mammal research. The iconic male, later named “The Guardian,” symbolized this new spirit of cooperation. This encounter led to the birth of the Caribbean-Wide Orca Project (CWOP, @caribbeanwideorcaproject ), a growing scientific network now involving over 70 collaborators, from scientists to sea-goers. Today, CWOP continues to map the presence and threats to marine mammals across the Wider Caribbean.
The CWOP photo identification catalogue contains 35 dorsal fins. Orcas are found in the Caribbean all year long, but in low densities that make their presence unpredictable. Most records concentrate in Venezuela and the French West Indies. Records in Central America are very scarce. These orcas could be a different ecotype, but more research is needed to confirm.
Of interest to note, are some unusual "close encounters" between orcas and vessels, including artisanal fishing boats and fish aggregating devices (FADs), in the waters of the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Understanding the behavioural context of these emerging interactions is critical not only for anticipating potential risks to maritime safety, but also for informing conservation strategies. While some aspects of these encounters may superficially resemble the disruptive orca-boat interactions reported in the Strait of Gibraltar, the Caribbean cases exhibit differences in behavior, frequency, vessel type, and severity that warrant further comparison.
Help us expand the knowledge frontier. Report sightings, share data, or join the CWOP network. Every observation counts. "
Follow CWOP on Instagram or Facebook to learn more about their program and publications. #OrcaWorldMonth #CaribbeanOrcas #CWOP
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A new study, of which Dr. Ingrid N. Visser, founder of @worldorcaday is a co-author, investigates orca in four oceans attempting to share prey with people. The wild orcas offered people a range of freshly acquired fishes, mammals and even invertebrates, when they approached people, dropped the item and awaited a response. The authors (Jared R. Towers @jtcoastal , Ingrid N. Visser @orcaingrid & Vanessa Prigollini @vaneprigo ) conclude that these cases provide opportunities for orcas to practice learned cultural behaviour, explore or play and in so doing learn about and potentially develop relationships with people. Having witnessed these events themselves, the authors also provide some ideas about how this behaviour might have evolved and the implications of such interactions. Dr. Visser says: “Orca are very social and we frequently see them food-sharing. To document and describe behaviour of them attempting to food-share with humans in various places around the globe is fascinating.” Award winning ecologist and author Dr. Carl Safina (@csafina ) who was not involved in this study says: “Of the many and varied minds in the sea, likely the greatest are those of orcas. Casual stories of their almost surreal intelligence abound. But here these scientists have systematically gathered an impressive litany of instances where free-living orcas have shown that they possess “theory of mind,” meaning that their minds understand that humans have minds too. Psychologists have often insisted that “theory of mind” belongs only to humans. Orcas would beg to differ. Orcas have repeatedly sought to be interactive with us, and they are curious about us. After living millions of years in the sea, to them we in our boats must seem like visiting aliens. And indeed, we are strangers in a strange place we hardly know, about which we yet have almost everything to learn.”
You can read the full study @worldorcaday , link in bio.
#research #science #orca #killerwhales #ocean
