Skip to main content
The Whale Sanctuary Project | Back to Nature
  • About
  • The Sanctuary
  • Whale Aid
  • The Whales
  • Deeper Dive
  • Blog
  • Events

Donate  Subscribe

  • About
  • The Sanctuary
  • Whale Aid
  • The Whales
  • Deeper Dive
  • Blog
  • Events

Tales from the Whale Side – Two

Posted September 4, 2017 in Learn More by Carl Safina

Another Fog Rescue

Page Two of some remarkable, inexplicable stories of killer whale behavior toward humans in the wild.

It gets, if anything, more touching. And much stranger. The fact is, killer whales seem capable of random acts of kindness. Acts that defy explanation. Acts that make scientists consider some pretty far-out possibilities. It can seem that killer whale behavior falls into two categories: amazing behavior and inexplicable behavior.

Researchers hoping to attach satellite tag to killer whale. Credit: Carl Safina.

Fog-guidance can seem like an exclusive service that killer whales feel inclined to provide – to people who work to protect them. Once, biologist and explorer Alexandra Morton and an assistant were out in the open water of Queen Charlotte Strait in her inflatable boat when she was enveloped by fog so thick she felt like she was, “in a glass of milk.” No compass. No view of the sun. Flat calm; no wave pattern to inform a guess. A wrong guess about the direction home would have brought them out into open ocean. Worse, a giant cruise ship was moving closer in fog so reflective Morton could not tell where its sound was approaching from. She imagined it suddenly splitting the fog before it crushed them.

“There are times when I am confronted with something beyond our ability to scientifically quantify.”

Then as if from nowhere, a smooth black fin popped up. Top Notch. Then Saddle. And then, Eve, the usually aloof matriarch. Sharky was suddenly peeking at her. Then Stripe. As they clumped close around her tiny boat, Alexandra followed in the fog like a blind person with a hand on their shoulder.

“I never worried,” she recalled. “I trusted them with our lives.”

Twenty minutes later they saw a materializing outline of their island’s massive cedars and rocky shoreline. The fog opened up. The whales left them. Earlier in the day the whales had been unusually difficult to follow, and had been traveling west toward open ocean. The whales had taken Morton south, home. When the whales left they changed direction toward where they’d just come from, where they had been headed.

Morton felt changed. “For more than twenty years, I have fought to keep the mythology of the orcas out of my work. When others would regale a group with stories of an orca’s sense of humor or music appreciation, I’d hold my tongue.

“Yet there are times when I am confronted with profound evidence of something beyond our ability to scientifically quantify. Call them amazing coincidences if you like; for me they keep adding up.

“I can’t say that whales are telepathic – I can barely say the word – but… I have no explanation for that day’s events. I have only gratitude and a deep sense of mystery that continues to grow.”

Next – Page Three: “The Strongest Energy I’ve Ever Felt.”

All posts in this series are excerpted from Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina.

 

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Photo of Carl Safina
Carl Safina

Tales from the Whale Side

Conservation biologist Carl Safina came upon some remarkable, unexplainable stories of killer whale behavior toward humans in the wild while writing his book Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel. Carl is President of the Safina Center and is on the board of the Whale Sanctuary Project. These stories are excerpted from his book. 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? Why would they single us out to give assistance? And why no grudge? Read 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 of the people aboard had just died during a nap in his bunk.Read 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 while she watched them would mean true telepathy. That, she knew, “flew in the face of reason.”Read 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 them coming closer. Just after the whales passed, he heard splashing. Suddenly, there stood his sodden dog, weakened and vomiting saltwater.Read 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 hopeful, light-hearted and full of joy.”Read 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. Killer whale behavior seems to fall into two categories: amazing behavior and inexplicable behavior.Read 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 darts and tags. They saw that we were cool around them. Which implies, y’know, a consciousness of what’s going on.”Read more

Also on the Blog

  • Canada Bans Captivity of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
  • Orca Brains and Intelligence
  • A Deep Dive into Environmental Analysis
  • TEDx Talk “Whales Without Walls” by Charles Vinick
  • Whale Aid Russia

Live Series of Webinars

What is an authentic sanctuary?
Latest discoveries about beluga whale societies
The psychology of captivity.
Free Willy and the legacy of Keiko.
… and many more.

A series of engaging conversations >

Join Us

Subscribe for Latest News

Make a donation

Get email updates

Subscribe

Follow Us

Help create the sanctuary

Make a donation
  • Privacy Policy |
  • Terms and Conditions of Use |
  • Contact Us |
  • UX Design by Dialogue Theory

© 2023 The Whale Sanctuary Project. All Rights Reserved.