BURSTThe recent sound of cannon fire echoing across the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the Canada-U.S. border was not a sign of the times, but the thunderous breach of a 12,000-pound apex predator.
South of Victoria, a Bigg’s killer whale known as Jack (T137A) was caught on camera Aug. 20 launching himself repeatedly from the water, leaving boaters in the area speechless.
“It sounded like a cannon had gone off when he hit the water,” said Alex McIntire, a research and education assistant with the Washington-based Orca Behaviour Institute. “Everybody’s jaw hit the floor, hearts were pounding and everyone was cheering at every jump.”
Estimated to measure around 25 feet long, McIntire says Jack’s vertical reach out of the water was as high as he is long.
“He fully cleared the water, which is not something you even see a small whale do very often,” he said. “That’s a lot of energy for a 12,000-pound adult male killer whale to fully clear the water, and he’ll do it four or five times in a row.”
The spectacular display even had some folks rethinking their stance on the credibility of one of cinema’s most iconic whale scenes in the 1993 movie Free Willy, when a captive orca makes a giant leap for freedom over a stone breakwater wall.
“There was just a moment of stunned silence,” said McIntire. “And that’s when one of the other captains came on the radio and said, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen a male get that much vertical – that just made the ending of Free Willy way more believable to me.”
This is not the first time the 24-year-old whale has wowed spectators with his athletic prowess.
McIntire says Jack has earned a reputation as one of the most acrobatic male killer whales, particularly in his usual hunting grounds in Puget Sound, where he travels with his mother and two sisters, the other members of the T137 family.
His frequent appearances, imposing size and distinct dorsal fin – around five feet tall and marked with two round notches – have made him easily recognizable. Add his apparent love of going airborne, and it’s little wonder Jack has developed a devoted fan club.
The City of Tacoma, Wash., recently went so far as to declare Jack “the Prince of Puget Sound.”
“If he knew that it would go straight to his head,” says McIntire with a laugh. “He would have such an ego about it.
“And all of a sudden, it seems like every whale watching trip I run, people are coming on the boat asking about Jack.”
As for why Jack so often seems eager to recreate the Free Willy leap, McIntire says he and his Orca Behaviour Institute colleagues can only speculate.
They suspect the behaviour may have as much to do with personality as it does with how they are raised.
“It seems like Jack is just excitable, energetic and maybe a bit of a show-off,” he says.
On this particular occasion, Jack was travelling with a different family, the T46B1s, who all became excitable when another pod cruised into the area.
“The girls all started breaching, and then in the distance, that’s when Jack went crazy,” says McIntire. “And then as soon as they were done breaching, they all took off towards this other family … they all met up for the rest of the night.”
Growing up in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, killer whales were a familiar sight for McIntire. But it was a kayaking trip with his mom for his 16th birthday that truly piqued his interest, when they encountered a pod of orcas.
“In that moment, I thought, whatever gets me as close to this moment as I possibly can for the rest of my life is what I want to do,” he said.
With a degree in marine biology, McIntire began his career with the Orca Behaviour Institute as an intern before moving to his current role as a research and education assistant. He also works as a naturalist and guide for Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching.
These days, orcas are his life six days a week, 12 hours a day.
While on the water, McIntire collects behavioural data, documenting how the orcas spend their time travelling, hunting, sleeping and socializing.
The work is helping researchers piece together how the lives of southern resident killer whales have changed over the decades. A soon-to-be-published study will reveal how the “behaviour budget” of the critically endangered population has “dramatically” changed since the 1970s.
Data is also currently being gathered about the “behaviour budget” of Bigg’s killer whales, which McIntire says is currently lacking.
Spending so much time with whales, surely McIntire has a favourite?
He names Strider (T46D), a 26-year-old male, yet to be sighted this year, as a longtime favourite. But Jack’s acrobatics may be enough to knock him from the top spot.
“He’s getting to the top,” he says. “After the other night, I did think to myself, ’Is Jack my favourite now?’”