The Whale Sanctuary Blog Archives
2018

The World’s Most Intelligent Species?

We’ve known for a long time that whales and dolphins are intelligent and socially complex animals with large brains that ...

Posted October 15, 2018 in Learn More, News

Q&A with Dr. Lori Marino

How will a whale adapt to the wide-open space of a sanctuary after years in a concrete tank? Lori Marino ...

Posted July 11, 2018 in Learn More, News

Among Beluga Whales, Family and Culture Come First

New discoveries from a 32-year study of beluga whales show the extent to which these animals value culture and family ...

Posted April 27, 2018 in Learn More, News

The Lummi Nation of Washington State

During the mid-1800s, in what would soon be known as Washington State, the Lummi people were exiled from their tribal ...

Posted April 5, 2018 in Learn More, News

The Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis of British Columbia

During our first field visit to prospective Canadian sanctuary sites, in July 2017, Whale Sanctuary Project president Dr. Lori Marino ...

Posted April 5, 2018 in Learn More, News

Whales and Dolphins: “Who” They Are

In this talk, Dr. Lori Marino talks about whales and dolphins: “who” they are, their history as a species, and ...

Posted January 1, 2018 in Learn More, News

Superpod One – Where it All Began

In the summer of 2011, a group of scientists, journalists and former orca trainers met up on San Juan Island. ...

Posted November 11, 2017 in Learn More

Tales from the Whale Side – Seven

Why would these beings declare unilateral peace with humans and not with dolphins and seals, whom they hunt and eat? ...

Posted September 11, 2017 in Learn More

Tales from the Whale Side – Six

One of the dolphins came briefly nearer the boat, and then suddenly fled. At that point, someone discovered that one ...

Posted September 9, 2017 in Learn More

Tales from the Whale Side – Five

She allowed herself to wonder: were the whales trying to communicate something after she’d defended their family? Reading her thoughts ...

Posted September 7, 2017 in Learn More

Tales from the Whale Side – Four

The dog’s owner was sitting on a log, crying, when he heard the blows of killer whales. He could see ...

Posted September 5, 2017 in Learn More

Tales from the Whale Side – Three

“It was like a portal opened, or an introduction to another possibility of communication. I felt lighter, more integrated, very ...

Posted September 5, 2017 in Learn More

Tales from the Whale Side – Two

Killer whales seem capable of random acts of kindness that defy explanation and make scientists consider some pretty far-out possibilities. ...

Posted September 4, 2017 in Learn More

Tales from the Whale Side – One

“The whales understood that we weren’t going to be involved in high-speed chases. We weren’t going to be shooting any ...

Posted September 3, 2017 in Learn More

Caring for Orcas at a Sanctuary

In this video, Charles Vinick, our Executive Director, talks about how attitudes are changing toward keeping whales and dolphins in ...

Posted August 24, 2017 in Learn More

When Belugas Learn to Say “Vrooom”

Wilma was an orphan beluga whale who had been in the bay trying to make friends with fishermen and tourist ...

Posted June 9, 2017 in Learn More

Smart, Chatty and Chirpy – and That’s Their Problem

Beluga whales are cute, charming, chatty, curious and all-around delightful. And that’s their problem, in that these attributes make them ...

Posted June 8, 2017 in Learn More

My Life with the Belugas

(Third in a series about beluga whales in captivity.) Samantha Berg worked with the belugas at SeaWorld in the 1990s. ...

Posted June 7, 2017 in Learn More

How the Beluga Business Began

What Sarah had seen that day in 1861 was one of the first beluga whales to be captured and put ...

Posted June 6, 2017 in Learn More

Beluga Whales – Cute, Curvy and Exploited

The Georgia Aquarium had arranged to have the whales captured from the Sea of Okhotsk on Russia’s west coast, and ...

Posted June 5, 2017 in Learn More

What Is a Sanctuary?

In this short video, Dr. Lori Marino defines a sanctuary as “a place of refuge” and highlights two key differences ...

Posted May 17, 2017 in Learn More

Morgan: When Rescue Becomes Capture

In 2011, a young, lone, female orca was captured in the waters of the Netherlands under a “rescue, rehabilitation and ...

Posted November 5, 2016 in Learn More

How the First Orcas Were Captured and Sold to Marine Parks

In August 1970, TV cameras were on hand as seven orcas (killer whales) were captured off the coast of Seattle ...

Posted November 5, 2016 in Learn More

Sanctuaries, Conservation and Reparation

Occasionally, anyone creating or running an animal sanctuary is asked whether the money wouldn’t be better spent on conservation and ...

Posted November 5, 2016 in Learn More

NPR Interview with Dr. Lori Marino

In this NPR interview on KTEP radio, Dr. Lori Marino, President of The Whale Sanctuary Project, discusses the scientific evidence ...

Posted June 27, 2016 in Learn More

Choosing a Location

Choosing the right home, as any realtor will tell you, starts with finding the right location. And site selection for ...

Posted June 8, 2016 in Learn More

Seaside Sanctuaries – Challenges & Rewards

By Heather Rally Whales and dolphins are perfectly adapted to life in the ocean. Orcas, for example, are far-ranging apex-predators, ...

Posted April 26, 2016 in Learn More

Sanctuary Engineering and Site Selection

The first, and most important, factor in engineering a seaside sanctuary is site location. You need protection from extreme surface ...

Posted April 26, 2016 in Learn More

The Benefits of a Seaside Sanctuary

A seaside sanctuary will be more natural for the cetaceans in them in so many ways: acoustically, water quality-wise, and ...

Posted April 26, 2016 in Learn More

Off to the Island

The ferry is full of people crowding up onto the top deck for glimpses of dolphins, harbor seals, eagles and ...

Posted March 11, 2015 in Learn More

We’ll Meet Again . . .

The group needs a name. I suggest “Superpod” in honor of what we’ve seen and shared over the week. It’s ...

Posted July 16, 2011 in Learn More

Custody Battle Over a Captive Orca

A very unseemly custody battle is going on between SeaWorld and the Canadian circus Marineland over orca Ikaika, whom SeaWorld ...

Posted July 15, 2011 in Learn More

Super-Intelligence

Scientists have several ways of measuring the size and complexity of the brains of different animals. Whatever way you look ...

Posted July 14, 2011 in Learn More

Orca Dinner Party

The orcas have found a shoal of salmon. They need 200 pounds of food every day, and Chinook salmon is ...

Posted July 14, 2011 in Learn More

Orcas at the Other End of the World

The orcas line up and then create a very precise wave that will lift one side of the ice floe ...

Posted July 14, 2011 in Learn More

Out on the Ocean, Surrounded by Orcas

Seven of us are headed out toward the open sound, and Spencer, captain of our whale-watching boat, is confident we’re ...

Posted July 14, 2011 in Learn More