Thursday, August 6, 2009

Orcas




One of my favorite mammals are orcas. I've been sitting here, listening to them this evening live at Orca Live. There is a lot of great information on this site and other sites, including the different call dialects, identifiable by pod (which is just a bunch of related orcas). Folks who have been listening for a long time can identify each pod by the sound of the calls. The website is the mind child of Dr. Paul Spong who is noted for his work in studying orcas in their natural habitat. In 2000, they actually had live-streaming video that the world could see. The footage was amazing, and unfortunately I didn't get a lot of things done when the whales could be spotted. The live video portion is no longer available due to lack of funding, but don't miss the chance to listen to these wonderful and amazing creatures. You can see excerpts from the live recordings on "Highlights." Full recordings are also available for purchase. The funding goes toward furthering the Orca research projects.

I get goose bumps every time I hear them. Here's another great site with wonderful photos and information Orca Homepage.

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