Best Whale

Ruffles was a male Southern Resident orca, specifically part of the J1 matriline. He gained recognition through his distinctive, highly undulating dorsal fin shape – a rare trait among this population. Researchers followed Ruffles for years, documenting his movements and behavior as part of ongoing...

Tahlequah is a wild orca belonging to the Southern Resident killer whale population. She gained international recognition in 2018 when she maintained her dead calf’s body for seventeen days and travelled over one thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean. This behavior highlighted the severe challenge...

The Ocean Sun (L25) was a critically important member of the Southern Resident killer whale population. This individual is notable for being one of the oldest known orcas, with estimates suggesting she lived over ninety years. Researchers tracked her movements and behavior, contributing valuable dat...

Varvara is a gray whale extensively studied during the 2010s. Researchers tracked her remarkable migration across the North Pacific Ocean. She completed over 22,000 kilometers of round-trip travel between Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk and Baja California, Mexico—a record for any mammal migration. This res...

A North Atlantic right whale was discovered in the late 1980s through recordings from US Navy hydrophones. This animal emits a unique, low-frequency sound at approximately 52 Hz – significantly lower than any other known whale species. Its consistent vocalization has captivated researchers studying...

Humphrey was a humpback whale famous for twice swimming into the freshwater San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River Delta in California. During his first inland journey in 1985 and again in 1990, he became stranded miles away from the open ocean, prompting massive, highly publicized rescue operat...

Granny, designated J2 by researchers, was a female killer whale in the Southern Resident community of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. She was regarded as the matriarch of J pod and was identified through long-term photographic monitoring of individual whales. Although popular accounts described her...

Morgan is a female orca rescued from the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands in 2010 and rehabilitated at Dolfinarium Harderwijk. After a court ruled she was not a viable candidate for release, she was transferred to Loro Parque on Tenerife, Spain, in 2011. Her captivity has been the subject of intense le...

Tokitae, also known as Lolita, was a female orca belonging to the endangered Southern Resident killer whale population. She was captured in Penn Cove, Washington, in 1970 and subsequently held at the Miami Seaquarium for over five decades. Throughout her life in captivity, she became a prominent fig...

Benny is the nickname given to a beluga whale that was sighted feeding in the River Thames in the United Kingdom during the autumn of 2018. The marine mammal was initially spotted near Gravesend in Kent, which is unusually far south for an Arctic and sub-Arctic species like the beluga. Benny's prese...

All-white adult male orca first photographed in 2010 near Russia's Commander Islands, widely regarded as the only known fully white adult male killer whale.

Female orca captured off Iceland around 1979 and held at Marineland Canada, she spent her final years as the sole orca at that facility before dying in 2023.

Northern bottlenose whale that swam into the River Thames in central London in January 2006, drawing massive public and media attention before dying during rescue attempts.

Kavna was a beluga whale at the Vancouver Aquarium who lived to be 46, making her one of the oldest recorded belugas and the inspiration for the song Baby Beluga.

All-white humpback whale first documented off eastern Australia in 1991, one of the only known leucistic humpbacks and a widely recognized individual tracked by researchers.

Patches is a North Atlantic right whale closely observed by researchers studying the critically endangered marine mammal population in its native ocean habitat.

Beluga whale that appeared off northern Norway in 2019 wearing a harness labeled 'Equipment St. Petersburg,' leading marine experts to speculate he had been trained by the Russian military.

First orca born and successfully raised in captivity, delivered at SeaWorld Orlando in 1985 to Katina and nicknamed Baby Shamu, demonstrating that killer whales could reproduce in captivity.

Female orca captured in Iceland in 1978 and held at SeaWorld Orlando, one of the most prolific captive breeders and the mother of Kalina, the first captive-born orca to survive to adulthood.

Southern Resident orca separated from his pod around 2001 in Nootka Sound, British Columbia, who lived alone for years and died in a boat propeller accident in 2006.

Flex is a western gray whale famously tracked via satellite in 2010, revealing an unprecedented migration route from Russian waters to the United States.

Northern Resident orca captured in 1969 and held at SeaWorld for decades, notable for undergoing more captive pregnancies than any other killer whale—at least seven—with no calf surviving.

A wild Southern Resident killer whale estimated to be born in 1972, notable as the long-lived matriarch of the J16 matriline.

Qila was a beluga whale born at the Vancouver Aquarium in Canada in 1995, notable for being the first beluga to be conceived and born successfully in captivity.

Rare white orca captured off British Columbia in 1970 and held at Sealand of the Pacific, believed to have had Chediak-Higashi syndrome causing her pale coloration; she died in 1972.

A wild Southern Resident killer whale born in 1992, uniquely notable for traveling with the J-pod after his own matriline died out.

A wild Southern Resident killer whale born around 1977, notable as the matriarch of her family group until her presumed death in 2018.

Northern Resident orca found emaciated and alone near Seattle in 2002 and repatriated to her natal pod off Vancouver Island, the first documented successful wild orca reintegration.

Female orca born at SeaWorld San Diego in 1988 to Kandu V and Orky II, among the earliest second-generation captive-born killer whales.