Seattle (AP) 鈥� When tourists travel to Seattle, it鈥檚 common to take in the Space Needle and the downtown skyline from Puget Sound.
It鈥檚 an itinerary that a newly arrived pod of killer whales appears to be following too.
Three orcas that had not previously been recorded in the Seattle area have delighted with several visits just off downtown this past month. They’ve also cruised by other shorelines in the region.
鈥淧eople … are all very happy to see this,鈥� said Hongming Zheng, who photographs whales in his spare time. It took him 10 hours of driving to find the mysterious pod. 鈥淚t was epic.鈥�
Researchers keep detailed records of , the waters between Washington state and Canada, by identifying their fins and saddle patches 鈥� the grayish markings on their sides.
So it was a surprise when this pod of three orcas showed up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in March. The three weren鈥檛 in any catalogs of local whales.
After some digging, researchers located photos of the pod in Alaska waters last year, said Shari Tarantino of the Washington-based Orca Conservancy. The pod includes an adult female and what are believed to be her two offspring, including a large young adult male.
They have now been designated as T419, T420 and T421 鈥� the T standing for 鈥渢ransient,鈥� not 鈥渢ourist.鈥�
The visiting orcas have something that local whales don鈥檛: circular scars left by cookie-cutter sharks, which latch on to larger animals and slice a chunk off them. It was evidence they’ve spent time in the open ocean, because that’s where the sharks live.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know their exact origin with 100% certainty yet, but the leading hypothesis is that they鈥檙e from Alaska, possibly the Aleutian region, given their appearance and the fact that some Alaskan populations range widely across the North Pacific,鈥� Tarantino wrote in an email.
As for why these three are thousands of miles from their home range? Tarantino said it’s possible they’re on a culinary field trip. This pod feeds on sea mammals 鈥� unlike the 鈥� and there are plenty of harbor seals, sea lions and porpoises in the Salish Sea.
鈥淭hey have quickly become a crowd favorite,鈥� Tarantino wrote. 鈥淧eople spend a lifetime hoping to see a killer whale from shore, and these three have more than delivered.鈥�
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