Killer Whales (Orcinus orca)

Killer whales or Orcas are not in fact whales but the largest member of the dolphin family. There are three distinct cultural types of Orcas, residents, trasients and offshore. Resident orcas only eat fish and reside in a particular geographical location. Trasient orcas are nomadic, they have a range of up to 1000 miles along the coast and eat mammals. Offshore orcas spend their lives in deep openwater and hunt fish, whales, birds and sharks. Each cultural and regional pod has a distinct dialect. Orcas of a particular culture will not interbreed, socialize nor can they communicate with Orcas of another culture. Which mean Orcas from the Mediterranean couldn’t communicate with an Orca from Alaska if they were to meet! These dialects are so culturally specific that resident Orcas and transient Orcas (from the same area) can’t communicate at all!

The orcas in seen around Juneau are transients and feed mainly on Harbour Seals and Steller's Sea Lions. They live in a matriacal society in small pods of 3 to 4 individuals, with pods in each region likely to be maternerally related. They hunt up to 21 different species of mammals. Each pod can travel 100 miles a day. So if you do get to see orcas while in Juneau, you're very lucky! And if you don't? Well... I've a number of great photographs on this webpage for you to check out!

Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)

The Humback Whales we encounter in Juneau have wintered in Hawaii. They travel the 3,000 miles back to Alaska in roughly 3 months and arrive here having not eaten in 6 months! Which means that they are hungry.... very hungry! An adult humpback whale will consume about one and half tonnes of herring a day! Aside from their primary purpose of feeding in Alaska, the female whales also have calves to look after. A calf learns everything from how to breach to the simple act of diving from it's mother. As the mother demonstrates to the calf the techniques need to survive it is a great oppertunity for people to observe the aerial acrobatics as both whales breach, tail slap and dive.