Photo: Capt. Simon Pidcock / Ocean EcoVentures
A belated happy Mother’s day to the matriarch of the J pod, known as J2, but nicknamed “Granny,” by orca researchers who is believed to be 103 years old this year, and still swimming strong. The J pod is a southern resident group of orcas that inhabits the coastal waters from Haida Gwaii in British Columbia to Northern California for about eight months of the year. Remarkably, the centenarian “Granny” and the J Pod just traveled 800 miles in just under 8 days.
In the wild, male orcas live for around 30 years but often live for 50-60 years. Females typically live for around 50 years but as suggested by J2, Granny, can live much longer.
Granny, by the way, poses a problem for Sea World, which claims that orcas live about as long in captivity as in the wild. In the documentary “Blackfish,” one SeaWorld employee states that orcas in captivity live longer. “They tend to live a lot longer in this environment because they have all the veterinary care.” In fact, orcas live far shorter and less healthy lives in captivity. Several scientific studies concluded that captive orcas die at three times the rate of orcas in the wild. Of the 159 captive killer whales that have died, close to 2/3 didn’t make it beyond 10 years in captivity. Only 30 orcas survived more than 20 years in captivity.