DSF Ollie the orca

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There are three distinct types of killer whale (also called Orcas) that inhabit Canada's Pacific North Coast: the salmon eating 'residents' , the shark liver eating 'offshores', and the marine mammal eating 'transients' (Now named Bigg's whales). Both are top of their respective complex food webs. The narrow passage that separates Vancouver Island from the rest of Canada is one of the best places in the world to observe one of two distinct populations of resident killer whales. Salmon returning to the streams and rivers of their birth are funneled through narrow channels, making a fantastic hunting ground for killer whales. The transients/Bigg's whales are known to eat pretty much any warm-blooded mammal along the Pacific Coast, including harbour seals, porpoises, dolphins, minke whales, humpback whales, Stellar sea lions, grey whales and sea otters. 

Orcas are very vocal and they use calls and whistles to communicate with each other underwater. Each resident (transients and offshores also) orca family has a distinct dialect that they use to communicate within their family while swimming, feeding and foraging. Some parts of the dialect are unique to the family and some are shared with other pods. Shared calls indicate that different pods may have descended from a common ancestral group. Just like humans, orcas make slight changes to their calls depending on their emotional state, location and identity.