Secrets of the Whales – S1E1 – Orca dynasty

Introduction

Orca dynasty is the first episode of the “Secrets of the Whales” documentary by National Geographic. This articles captures a sneak peak of the 1st episode which talks about Orca whales family tradition, pods and their secret techniques to hunt food. This can be watched freely if you have a Disney+ subscription. The executive producer of this series is James Cameron who has been shooting Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 in New Zealand. It would be interesting to see what parts of this documentary is coming in “Avatar 2 – The way of water”.

Orca pod

Orca whales are popularly known as killer whales put their family first. A family living as a group is referred to as a pod. Three generation of whales live together from grandmother, mother and young ones. This episode covers a family that had lived for over 1000 years in New Zealand. Their family favorite pass time is playing hide and seek. Mother teaches her secret techniques to their younger ones in the pod. She finds a sting ray and uses secret family technique which is to flip the sting ray that puts them to sleep. This techniques is known to only the whales found in New Zealand. Whales chirps and whistles to invite family to eat the food and they work together to prep the food.

Sharing a meal

Brian Skerry scuba dives to document the scene but the mom Orca whales stops to share the food to him by letting the ray-fish drown and waits for him to pick it. After few seconds of waiting she realizes that Brian is not interested in the food, so she grabs it back. Whales breathe air as human do so they need to come to the surface of the water for fresh air.

Bubble technique for hunting

Then the episode talks about another pod which lives near Arctic circle and how they hunt for herds of herring fishes using unique bubble technique. Another pod’s mom was carrying her dead calf for days, exhibiting mourning like behavior and tradition.

Babysitting and protection

Then the episode talks about another pod in Antarctica where an teenage orca in a pod, babysits very younger ones in the pod. When a group of fur seals tries attack the calf, the babysitter gathers all young one and takes them to their own pod for safety.

Ambush technique for hunting

Then the episode goes to Falkland’s island where pod’s mother uses ambush technique to catch elephant seals close by the shores to feed her pod members. This ambush technique was taught to her by her mother. After catching hold of a seals, if it becomes challenging, she calls other pod members for help since the elephant seal are very huge. This style has been perfected by this pod for generations.

Risky beach hunting

Then the episode goes to Patgonia, which is the home for the world’s most powerful pod. These orcas catch seals of the beach, which is highly risky considering the shallow water levels along the beach and the chances an orca getting struck on the shore is high. But these techniques were mastered by grandmother orca for many years and is an expert at this. These experts wait for the right wave and right timing to attack and capture a pub seal which is trying to get on to the water and then get back to the water without getting struck. Grandmother teaches the younger ones in the pod to take forward this technique and culture. When an granddaughter orca tries to master this technique, she gets struck on the beach but her grandmother comes and rescues her. Granddaughter tries again to make a successful attempt to take forward their family tradition.

More complex their traditions the tougher it gets to take forward their culture from one generation to another.