Mother and Son | Photo 02

Two wild orcas of the Northern Residents!
Researchers have been studying this population since 1973. They can tell individual whales apart by looking at their fins, and their saddle patches (the grey markings behind their fins), which have individual scars or patterns. A killer whale will stay with its mother its entire life, whether female or male. The family groups of mothers and their offspring never separate, except if a daughter has many children of her own and forms her own group. Even then, they spend time together. When a whale is not with its group, we know it has died.

These two are from a less common group. The smaller fin is Nebohannah (ID # W3). She was an adult female when the study began and is therefore over 45 years old (and probably closer to 50!). She is the matriarch of her family.
The larger fin is Klennys (ID # W5), her son (when the males mature, their fins can grow to 6 ft). Klennys was born around 1974 and when researchers first saw him, he was just a small calf. He is now over 30 years old and as you can see, still stays by mom's side!
They're a small group; their only other member is Nebohannah's older son Glenville (over 40 years old!), who is not in this photo but can be seen here!

And if you read all that, you get a cookie =D