natural behavior orcas in motion
(coming soon)
orcas breach in many different ways. breaching is defined as a leap into the air and then landing on the back, stomach, or side(in other words anything but head first) causing a tremendous splash. the reason why orcas breach is unknown but we have some ideas. sometimes they breach because of excitement, to stun their prey, during play, and to show who is the dominate animal. in captivity orcas are seen doing this on command.
breaching


corky2 and splash
kohana mimicing her mother, takara
photo by S.Jacobs
photo by s. jacobs
photo by s. jacobs
photo by s. jacobs
photo by s. jacobs
by s. jacobs
by s. jacobs by s. jacobs photo by unknown
splash and keet a male and a possible female resident orcas breaching(by john ford) a male transient orca
unna doing a belly breach(or belly flop)
more photos
bowing
this behavior is sometimes considered the same as porpoising but, bowing usually happens with little or no speed. when bowing the orca will rise streight out of the water with almost all of their body exposed except their tail stock and/or flukes. sometimes the entire body does leave the water with only a very small distance covered from the "lift off" to the "landing". once in a while orcas will bow out of the water and land in the exact same place it left.
porpoising
by definition porpoising is traveling at a high rate if speed on the surface of the water and making long low leaps to cover long distances. orcas usually do this the same way their smaller dolphin cousins do. in the wild they can be seen doing this when they are hunting fast moving prey. when they come up to breath huge spreys of water raise up from their dorsal fins and from their sides. inorder for an orca to porpoise comepletely out of the water they have to be swimming up to speeds as high as 22 miles per hour, not to too fast for an orca which at an average can swim up to speeds of 35-45 miles per hour ( thats as fast a race horse).
corky2(back) splash(middle) and orkid(front) a male transient orca
a female transient orca during a hunt
corky(diving)splash(middle)orkid(back) orkid(front)ulysses(middle)splash(back) a female transient orca (pacheena???)
by s. jacobs
spyhopping
spyhopping is an often seen behavior. this is when the animal raises its head out of the water to look at its surroundings. sometimes over half of its body will come put of the water and then just sink back into the water or slowly fall back into the water with little or no splash. other times they will slowly rotate 360 degrees looking  at the world around them.
keet spyhopping
photo by s. jacobs
photo by s.jacobs PHOTO BY S. JACOBS PHOTO BY S. JACOBS
photo by s. jacobs
a pair of bull orcas
coming soon
tail thrashing
photo by s. jacobs    (cow orca tail thrashing or tail breaching)
photo by s.jacobs (a bull orca tail thrashing)
photo by unknown (a female transient orca)
taillobbing
a bull orca in british columbian waters photo by s. jacobs
surfing
splash(front)and orkid(back)
"beaching"
orkid(on platform) and keet(returning to the water)
rolling
head and chin slapping
by s. jacobs photo by s. jacobs
by s. jacobs by s.jacobs
pec slapping
by s.jacobs
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