As of November 2007, the population totals 87* individuals (not including Lolita at Miami Seaquarium). All three Southern Residents pods were reduced in number during 1965-75 as a result of captures for marine parks. At least 13 orcas were killed during captures, and 45 were delivered to marine parks around the world, of which only Lolita remains alive.

The Southern Residents are often seen during the summer in the protected inshore waters of the Salish Sea, especially in Haro Strait, west of San Juan Island, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Georgia Strait near Fraser River. This overall inland sea is known as the Salish Sea.

Each pod uses a characteristic dialect of calls to communicate, with certain calls used in common between pods. The calls used by the Southern Community are unlike the calls made by any other community of orcas. These calls can travel ten miles or more underwater.

J POD, with 26 members, is the pod most likely to appear year-round near the San Juan Islands, in the lower Puget Sound near Seattle, and in Georgia Strait at the mouth of the Fraser River. J pod tends to frequent the west side of San Juan Island in mid to late spring.

The oldest member of J pod is J2, estimated to be in her early nineties. J pod has one mature male in J1, being an est. 55 years old, and two nearly matured males, J26 and J27.

K POD now has 19 members. The matriarch of K pod is K7, also estimated to be in her early nineties. K pod has one mature male, K21, and one nearly matured male, K26.

L POD, with 43 members (including the new calf reported August 19, 2007), is by far the largest resident pod. L pod has two fully adult males, L41 and L57, and four nearly matured males, L73, L74, L78 and L79.

View the historical status of the Southern Resident Killer Whales
HERE

The Southern Residents' diet, range, social behavior, kinship system and linguistic system are distinct from other orca populations that occur in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to the Southern Resident Community, there is a Northern Resident Community (Northern B.C.), a Transient Community, and an Offshore Community. Pods from one community have never been observed traveling with those from another community, although their ranges partly overlap. The call dialects of the four communities are also distinct.

The Northern Resident Community, which is found primarily in the Johnstone Strait area and northern British Columbia, is made up of about 220 whales in 16 pods. The Northern and Southern Residents are fully described in Killer Whales by Ford, Ellis, and Balcomb from UBC/UW Press.

Another community of orcas, called Transients, can be found in small groups from Mexico to the Bering Sea. They appear only occasionally in the Salish Sea, usually near Vancouver Island. Transients specialize in a diet of marine mammals, especially seals, sea lions, and porpoises. There are about 170 transients, but they travel in small groups of one to five individuals, staying close to shorelines, often near seal rookeries when pups are weaned.

In 1991 another community, called Offshores, was discovered. These whales may be the ancestral population of the Northern and/or Southern Residents. They are most often seen in the Pacific Ocean, 15 to 25 miles out at sea, off Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes, though members of this community have been seen from southern California to the Bering Sea.



* The population number cited on this website is for the general public, and is provided as an estimate only. As the number of whales in this population is constantly changing, please contact the Center for Whale Research directly prior to any publication of this estimate to receive the most current information. Any published or broadcast reference to this population estimate must include credit to the Center for Whale Research. Thank you.