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Southern Resident whales

Ambitious plan to free captive orca Lolita announced

The new owner of the Miami Seaquarium in the US has announced that it is...

Trade sanctions announced after Mexico fails to protect near extinct porpoise

The international body behind the treaty that protects endangered plants and animals from the threats...

WDC exposes failure of Government scheme to protect whales and dolphins from net deaths

Following our investigations, we have revealed that a UK Government scheme to protect whales and...

First cases of bird flu in dolphins discovered in the UK

The UK Government has announced that two dolphins and a harbour porpoise have died from...

Scientists record first case of infanticide in orcas

For the first time, scientists have recorded an incident in which a male orca deliberately drowned an orca calf from another pod, assisted by his own mother. The mother of the calf tried unsuccessfully to defend her offspring. 

While this behaviour has been recorded in other animals and three species of dolphin, it had never been seen before in orcas.

The event in December 2016, which took place in the waters off Vancouver Island in British Columbia, was recorded by a number scientists working in the area at the time, including the WDC-funded Orcalab. The transient orcas involved were known to the researchers and it is thought the attack may have been carried out in an attempt to then provide the male orca with a future opportunity to mate with the calf’s mother when she became fertile again. 

The findings are published at nature.com

About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.