Captive Orcas 'Dying to Entertain You' - Whale and Dolphin ...

Most of what we know about the habits and social behaviour of orcas in the wild isderived from more than a quarter of a century of study in British Columbia andWashington State. In recent years, scientists and researchers in other parts of the worldhave also begun to study local orca populations, inspired by the groundbreaking work ofMichael Bigg and his colleagues. In the mid-80's, researchers in Alaska began photoidentificationstudies and found social composition and behaviour to be very similar tothe BC communities.In Argentina, researchers have witnessed male orcas intentionally stranding themselvesin order to seize sealion prey; and off the Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean,researchers have documented that females routinely teach their calves deliberatestranding techniques as part of hunting behaviour. 512