When you have the chance to watch orcas in their natural habitat, you can't help but be humbled. These magnificent creatures can regularly swim over 100 miles in a day and can dive up to 900 feet - needless to say, they can cover significant distances in a short amount of time. But all that travel, combined with breaks for hunting and socializing, can sure tucker out a trekking transient. So what's a tired whale to do?
Uni-hemispheric sleep, we call it! It's a technique utilized by orcas to allow them to rest, letting one hemisphere of their brain shut down while leaving enough of their brain left awake and functioning for survival. And what exactly do I mean by that? Well, unlike us, orcas are conscious breathers, meaning they need to think about each breath they take. They can't just shut down for a good night's sleep after a hot cup of tea and a chapter of a good novel, waking up eight hours later to a brand new day. They'd drown! So they turn off half of their brain at a time. Isn't that incredible?
We were able to witness two male transients resting today to the east of Spieden Island. We could tell they were half asleep by the easy, calm, rhythmic way they were traveling. When at the surface, they were simply breathing before submerging again for a few minutes. It was so peaceful to watch. These males were all the way down in Seattle yesterday, so they had done a fair amount of swimming to get where they were today!
Sleeping orcas. Hunting orcas. Playing orcas. Any orca sighting is exciting out here in the Salish Sea!