Cetaceans - Blog Posts

Wildlife tourism isn’t always a more ethical choice.

I often see people who are under the assumption that wildlife tourism is free from ethical concerns, or that it’s inherently a more ethical choice than visiting a zoo/aquarium.

Wildlife tourism encompasses a wide variety of activities that involves watching wildlife in engage with their natural habitat. This includes safaris, whale watching, birding, photography tours, and a host of other activities. Wildlife tourism by itself can be an ethical way to see wildlife, however that is not always the case. There’s actively many harmful parts of wildlife tourism, that people may overlook since the animals are “free.”

So.. what would be some examples of unethical wildlife tourism?

- Whale petting in Baja Mexico. This activity actively contributes to the habituation of whales and disrupts their natural behaviors. Habituated whales are at a higher risk of encountering boat strikes - which can lead to physical injury or even death.

- Fake/bad acting sanctuaries. Sanctuaries are not always ethical, and many advertise activities such as elephant rides, elephant bathing, and advocate for people to touch/hold animals. The training methods they often utilize use fear or coercion, this is often actively stressful to the animals, and can be particularly dangerous to the tourists engaging with these animals.

- Swimming with whales. Studies show that commercial swim with whale tours can negatively impact the behaviors of some baleen whale species. These behaviors include avoidance and decreased rest time.

Spoiler: Injured wildlife

Is there ethical wildlife tourism?

Absolutely! Wildlife tourism should be done with respect for the animals. There should be careful steps taken to avoid habituation and harassment of wildlife.

Some of my favorite options include visiting a national park, bird watching, and doing careful research to find ethical whale watching companies. Additionally, many AZA accredited zoos offer animal interactions that are done in a safe & non-stressful manner for the animals. These may even include giraffe feedings and up close educational encounters.

🪼 Intro 🪼

I go by Pacific. I have a huge interest in marine mammals - especially dolphins, orcas, and sea lions!

My other posts will often be about conservation and zoos/aquariums.

🐬 About Me 🫧

★ I support accredited zoos & aquariums. I believe that they’re a valuable tool in both conservation & public education. I think the majority of animals can thrive in captivity, if cared for properly.

★ I consider myself anti captivity/pro-welfare with orcas. Although I wish we didn’t have captive orcas, I believe the last captive orcas should still live out their final years in a high quality zoological setting.

★ I’ll often post about endangered or extinct species. Conservation is a huge interest of mine!

★ I may post about dog training & animal training on the side.

★ I’m hoping to work with marine animals one day.

★ I’m a wildlife photographer. One of my dreams is to photograph wild orcas!

🐬 Favorites 🐬

★ Extinct species - Caribbean monk seal.

★ Sea lion species - Australian sea lion.

★ Cetacean - Orcas, bottlenose dolphins, & commerson’s dolphins.

★ My favorite orcas - Chimo, Keiko, Kamea, and Frosty.

★ Cephalopods - Bigfin squid & humboldt squid.

🦈 Before You Interact 🦈

★ I’ll likely block you if you’re aggressively anti captivity. This includes orca related captivity as well. I personally see a lot of toxic behavior from these sorts of people.

★ Pro captivity people are welcome here! I’m always interested in hearing more POVs.

★ Under 16 or over 20 - feel free to follow & interact with my blog, but keep it casual please. Respect any boundaries I set. Do not expect to be viewed as a friend, as it makes me uncomfortable.

★ NSFW accounts - I likely will block these. I just don’t feel comfortable with that content!

★ Dolphin hate - I am willing to dispel a lot of the harmful myths surrounding dolphins. However I will not allow blatant dolphin hate on my blog.

let’s swim with mama

J63 is the first southern resident calf born in 2025 and likely the first calf of J40 “Suttles”!

unfortunately, southern resident calves have around a 50% mortality rate within their first year of life. a lot of this seems to be from a lack of food availability due to overfishing and disturbances from boats.

right now, under the trump administration, FWS and NOAA are trying to change the definition of “harm” in the endangered species act in a way that would weaken environmental protections. this will severely impact the already endangered and struggling southern resident population. calves like J63 will have even lower chance of survival if this proposed rule goes through. public comments to oppose this decision are open until may 19th.

more information + suggested talking points for public comments here

submit a public comment here

source: center for whale research

J62!!!

source: center for whale research

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut, also known as “Tokitae” or “Lolita”, was a Southern Resident killer whale likely from L-pod. She was born around the mid-1960s. Many suspect her mother is L25 “Ocean Sun”, but there has never been confirmation.

In August 1970, Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was one of around 80 killer whales rounded up for capture in Penn Cove, Washington. Based on her size, she was between 2-7 years old at the time. In the capture, led by Ted Griffin and Don Golsberry, 5 whales drowned and 7 whales, including Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut, were taken away.

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was purchased by a veterinarian at Miami Seaquarium named Jesse White for $20,000. She was transported to Miami Seaquarium in September 1970. White named her “Tokitae”, a Coast Salish word that roughly translates to “nice day” or “pretty colours” in English.

She was originally kept separately from the other orca, a male Southern Resident called Hugo. Hugo had been captured 2 years prior from Vaughn Bay, Washington.

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut and Hugo would often talk to each other between tanks, Southern Residents have a unique language which includes specific dialects within their pods, meaning that the two of them were able to communicate in ways that they could not with any other population. Miami Seaquarium eventually placed them together in a single 80-by-35 ft tank. The they mated often, but never had any living calves. Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was given the stage name “Lolita”.

Hugo experienced severe stress due to his situation. In March 1980, he died after ramming his head into the wall of the tank.

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was housed with other cetaceans, but remained the only orca at the aquarium for the rest of her life. Despite her isolation, she held on to her home. She was heard multiple times throughout her decades in captivity singing a song that is only heard within L-pod.

In 2015, NOAA removed the exclusion of captive whales from the Endangered Species Act and included Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut in the listing of Southern Residents. NOAA stated there was a “strong case” that she was a Southern Resident after analysing her mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA. However, because she was captured 2 years before the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was considered “pre-Act”, meaning she did not qualify under it.

The Lummi Nation never stopped fighting for Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut to be brought home. They consider her a relative. In July 2019, two Lummi women, Squil-le-he-le and Tah-mahs, invoked the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in an attempt to bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut home. NAGPRA gave them legal grounds to sue Miami Seaquarium if they refused to return Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut to the Salish Sea.

In August 2019, the Lummi gave her the name “Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut”, which roughly translates to “member of Sk’aliCh’elh” in English. Sk’aliCh’elh being a family of orcas in the Salish sea.

Squil-le-he-le visited Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut in Miami and performed healing songs for her. Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was very receptive to this. Squil-le-he-le was quoted saying “She was singing with me. She was vocalizing with me,” in an interview with The Planet.

In March 2023, the Miami Seaquarium (now owned by The Dolphin Company) partnered with Friends of Toki and began the process of transferring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut to a sea pen in her home waters.

This decision was controversial given Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut’s age (around her late 50s) and her chronic health conditions. She hadn’t been transported anywhere in over 50 years, causing concern for the stress that transport to Washington could cause her. There were also concerns that she might not be able to survive the re-exposure to the bacteria in the ocean after living in a tank of clorinated water for so long, or that she could possibly expose the wild Southern Residents to the infections she developed in captivity.

Others, especially the Lummi, argued that she deserved to live the remainder of her life in her home waters, which she clearly remembered.

In August 2023, the Miami Seaquarium announced that Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut had passed away. Her cause of death was attributed to multiple chronic health conditions. On the day of her death, over 3000 miles away, members of all 3 Southern Resident pods (J,K, and L) were gathered together in what is known as a “superpod”. Gatherings of multiple Southern Resident pods have become more rare in recent years.

The Lummi were not consulted before the autopsy was performed.

Finally, in September 2023 her ashes were returned home and there were multiple ceremonies laying her to rest.

No Southern Resident had been seen in Penn Cove since the captures in the 1970s, but in November 2024, L-pod returned. Among them was Ocean Sun.

Footage: Kat Martin, ScubaFilmFactory, Miami Herald, KING 5 Seattle, AnaCarlaNJ, H2Omammals, DaddysJournie, KING 5 Seattle

Audio: Susannah Joffe, sacredsea.org

New animal unveiled. Tucuxi Infography on my Instagram

New animal unlocks in my club. Subscribe now for a great introduction to all mammals. You'll receive collectible sheets providing an overview of each animal, including subspecies. I choose Payhip over Patreon because the percentage rate they take is lower. Here is the link:

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The Irrawaddy Dolphin. One of the aspects I enjoy most about this project is the opportunity to learn as I work. Before getting involved with dolphins, I had no idea how many different species existed. Now, each time I work with them, I’m struck by the incredible diversity in their shapes and behaviors. This experience also highlights how much there is still to discover about them. Despite feeling a sense of familiarity with dolphins, the extent of the unknown is astonishing, and it amazes me how little we know about many of them. Join the club here: https://payhip.com/b/ZYD1O

Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin. (Lagenorhynchus acutus) Least Concern. As always, I have enjoyed working with this family. Working with cetaceans is always enjoyable. The most amusing aspect is getting to know them. I must confess that my knowledge about cetaceans was quite limited, extending only to the commonly known dolphins and whales. However, compiling this information has opened my eyes, allowing me to marvel at the hidden wonders of the sea and emphasizing the importance of protecting it. _____________________ Thank you all for your support. If you want to know more about mammals consider joining my club. I post more animals there than the ones I post here, showing the full-body illustration of each animal, explaining the infographic and the illustration process, and how the family is being completed, apart from many other nice stuff. Here is the link: CLUB Another way of supporting me is spreading the word. A like, a follow, or a reblog are very much appreciated. See you next week and thank you.

Risso's Dolphin Grampu griseus Family: Delphinidae Genus: Grampus Status and Conservation: Least Concern Working on this one was very relaxing. Dolphins take me not so much time and still, the result is nice, So I usually work two every week I'm working on this family. Still amazed at how little I know about this bug family and how interesting its members are. If you want to know more about them, you can join my club here ____________________________ That will be it for this week. If you like the content, leave me some love. Reblogs are also loved. This blog is becoming the most complete source of mammals. Adios!

I really enjoyed illustrating cetaceans. They are kind of easy to do, they don't take many hours (like just 2), and the results are stunning. In this case, I added the lights of the high contrast from the humidity of the skin of the animal and I think make the illustration look more realistic. On the other hand, these genera of dolphins are simply beautiful. I didn't know the existence of many of them and discovering them really surprise me.

Heaviside's Dolphin This dolphin can be found in the coastal waters of South Africa. As the other members of the genera are small size dolphins with the same colors as their relatives but with a specific pattern.

They are very energetic and can be seen closer to boats. They use echolocation (a way of hunting used primordially by bats) to hunt, which means they use sound to find their prey. Prey are mostly fishes and mollusks. They are not expert divers with dives commonly going down to 50 meters. However, some register dives were down to 147 meters. Dives length is no more than 2 minutes.

As for predators, the only known is the Orca. __________________________________________________ Credits: Heaviside's dolphin _________________________________________________ Store Instagram Thank you guys for your love and support. If you like the content, please like and subscribe. And if you like it more, please reblogged and help me to spread the word. Comments, questions, or whatever you want to say are also very welcome.

I usually don't post on Sundays but this week was crazy. I moved from my home country, Colombia to live in Canada for good last Thursday. I'm a little tired because of the move and I didn't have much time to think of anything else but packing. But here we are trying to post one animal every week. Today, one that was completely unknown to me and apparently to science too because not much is known about it. The Chilean Dolphin.

Chilean Dolphin This dolphin was previously named the black dolphin. It was named this way because of some dead specimens and some saw at the distance. When they studied live animals and got closer to them, they realized the color wasn't that dark so they changed the name to Chilean dolphin. This dolphin doesn't swim close to the boats. This is because they were hunted with harpoons up to the 80s. It is believed that the animal developed a fear of boats. (We can see why. What is strange is why the other species of dolphins haven't). By those times, hunts of this animal rise to 1500 per year. Today its status is Nearly Threatened. Store Instagram _________________________________________________

Credits: Chilean Dolphin Chilean Dolphin _________________________________________________ Thank you to all of you who liked and promoted my last post. It really helped me a lot. Again, if you like the content please like and subscribe. Reblog are also like gold for me. Hopefully, I will be able to post next week. Cheers!

Blue Whale

"We must feel lucky to be sharing the world with the biggest animal that ever existed."

Not even the biggest dinosaur is a match for the size of the Blue Whale, the largest animal that ever existed on earth. The largest-ever registered was 33 meters. It is the biggest size the animal can reach in order to function correctly. A fifth subspecies could be a population that inhabits the coasts of Chile. A group with unique vocalization and notable genetic differences.

I must say that whales are fascinating. I still find it hard to wrap the size of this animal. I hope one day I could see one of them. Today is protected because it was heavily hunted almost to its extinction. In 1966, its hunt was banned by the International Whaling Commission. ___________________________

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Fin Whale

Formerly known Know as the Finback whale, Common rorqual, Herring whale, or Razorback whale, the Fin whale is the second largest whale on the planet. Its glamorous and slender shape make it one of the fastest rorquals despite its size. It was heavily hunting during the whaling times in the XX century but was able to recover and their numbers are somehow stable. Over 725,000 fin whales were reportedly taken from the Southern Hemisphere between 1905 and 1976. For this reason, the Southern Fin Whale is closer to extinction than the Northern Fin Whale. The North Pacific population is believed to be a third subspecies according to experts, however, more studies need to be done to validate this information. The Fin Whale is more related to the Humpback Whale and the Grey Whale. It is strange because these two rorquals belong to a different genus each.

Sei Whale

Is the third-largest rorqual before the Fin whale and the Blue whale. Heavily hunted in the XIX and XX century its numbers dropped from 250.000 to 80.000 which in other words mean less than a third of the pre whaling population. Today luckily is protected.

Mass deaths events have been recorded numerous times and the reason why isn't clear but it appears to be endemic poisoning called red tide. It is a phenomenon of decoloration of the sea surface that occurs by an overpopulation of certain microorganisms, apparently caused by the unprecedented warming of the Pacific Ocean. The biggest mass death event documented happened in Chile in June 2015 where 337 death Sei Whales were counted.

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Rice's Whale I can proudly say this is one of the few illustrations done of this new species, the Rice's Whale. Named in 2021, It was previously thought to be a subpopulation of the Bryde's Whale until further studies proved the opposite.

The sad news is that is critically endangered and along with the vaquita, those are two of the most scarce cetaceans in the world which happened to inhabit the same environment. The causes of its decline are still unclear but are believed to be because of the industrialization of the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil spill disaster in 2010 killed nearly 20% of its population.

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The Bryde's Whale has been a kind of puzzle for scientists because three species use to fall into its category. This is called complex in taxonomy. In other words, three (or maybe four) species of whales were thought to be subspecies, (or just the same species) as the Bryde's whale.

I wonder why not just name all four species the same if they are so closely similar? The devil is in the details. Those little differences that make one species become different from others can be the starting point for a completely new animal in million years. On the other hand, those tiny changes also may be the ones that make the animal adapt better than its relatives and therefore survive the changes of the environment.

So if is similar in appearance, as it seems in the cetaceans, there are movements and changes that are only perceptible in millions of years of evolution.

Can I suppose that the Balaenopteridae family is a young one, therefore many of its members are closely similar? Could be...

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Antarctic Mink Whale.

First, it was believed to be a subspecies of the Mink Whale but in the 90's it was discovered to be a different species. Like the Mink Whale, it was ignored by whalers because its size made it one of the most abundant whales in the world. However, the decline of other whales, made the Mink Whale today one of the mainstays of the industry, therefore its numbers have started to decline too.

I don't believe whaling should be banned but I do believe it should have stronger control. I think cultures that do whaling shouldn't be deprived of something they have been doing for generations and also helped them to develop into the cultures and countries they are today. But it has to be responsible, as anything else.

These days we have been witnessed violent climate issues in different areas around the world that are just telling us what is coming in the near future if we don't change the way we treat the planet. Just take what you need so others also can have some.

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Whales are divided into three families. This is the second and biggest: the Balaenopteridae, which contains the biggest animal that ever inhabits the earth. However, we will start with its smallest member but also the fastest: the Mink Whale. This is the most common whale and is probably due to its not being commonly hunted by humans. Its size is too small (about 10m) and does not have enough oil yield, so hunting it is not worth it. Nonetheless, the hunting of this whale has increased.

Its name is confusing because it was first confused and classified wrongly. Its name is derived from the Norwegians who usually refer to any type of small whale as Minkie or Minkies' hval.

The Dwarf Mink Whale was described as a new subspecies not long ago and it is not sure yet if is one. Still has not scientific name. Mink Whale in captivity.

Mink whale has been tried to keep in captivity in Mito Aquarium, in Japan a few times. Most of the specimens died in few weeks while in 1956, the last one was able to scape a net aquarium after 37 days spinning the pool in the same direction.

____ I'm really ignorant of whales and most of this information is new to me. It is very hard to understand the information and translated it into something that I am able to explain. I hope is understood. ____ Thanks for your support. Likes, reblogging, or follows are very much appreciated.

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Poster Balaenidae and Cetotheriidae Family. Although not related, however similar and for many years thought to belong to the same family, The Pygmy Right Whale is the only extant member of the Cetotheriidae family. Despite its size, The biggest difference from the Balaenidae family is that the Pygmy whale has a dorsal fin and its mouth is not as big in proportion to its body as the other Right Whales. You can purchase this poster here

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Pygmy Right Whale

I had no idea this one exists. How awesome can be a small version of a right whale? Here it is, the Pygmy Right Whale.

Not much is known about this animal since is one of the whales that has been studied the less. Often confused at sight with the Minke Whale, observation of the Pygmy Right Whale is rather scarce. Lives in the Southern Hemisphere in waters of temperatures that range from 5 to 20 °C.

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Right Whales:

The other genus of the Balaenidae family is composed of three species. The three of them are mostly distinguished from each other by distribution or genetic analysis.

The particularity of this genus is the callosities that grow below its mandible that provide the perfect habitat for colonies of whale lice, a form of crustacean, that cannot live in open waters and found this whale the perfect way to travel comfortably. It is a *symbiosis, however, scientists cannot explain concretely why.

Among the three, the Southern Right Whale is the only one that is not in danger, being the North Atlantic Right Whale the one in most critical danger of extinction. This is probably related to its whereabouts which is in areas where humans have been doing whaling for centuries.

I am actually not in total disagreeing with whaling. Not that I will ever participate in such an event or even try something that comes from a whale. However, in some cultures is ingraining for centuries and was extremely important for the survival of humans.

Whaling should be banned today? For us might be a big bold no as an answer because it doesn't affect us at all. But what about if the consumption of chicken or cow is banned? We might say that there is not a relation between both. However, some cultures see the consumption of whales in the way we see the consumption of chicken. Are chicken endangered? Of course not, but the way we are consuming it is putting in danger the whole planet.

Maybe whales are way more charismatic, mysterious and magnificent than chickens but in the end, they both are living beings and if we are going to advocate for one, we should advocate for both. Just to be fair.

*Symbiosis: interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.

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