False Killer Whales sighted alongside Humpback Whales!
The activity levels of the Humpback whales certainly picked up today! Guests on board the Tangalooma Jet sighted whale pods heading both north and south. We saw a very large pod of 5 adult Humpbacks that were charging northwards at 7 knot speeds, they covered heaps of ground in the hour we watched them due to their missile speed! As they swam very fast towards Flinders Reef, we came across another pod. These whales were surface active as they performed a spy hop, tail throw, tail slaps and pec slaps.
The whales soon became elusive as they performed many deep water dives. As we were gazing at the surrounding waters, we noticed a very large dolphin surface a few hundred meters off. This pod of mammals approached us closer and we soon realised they were False Killer Whales! To our surprise, they were quite curious and surfaced a meter from the bow of the Tangalooma Jet!
About False Killer Whales
False Killer Whales are not actually whales, they are dolphins. In fact, they are the 3rd largest species of dolphins. While the False Killer Whale shares similar traits with the Killer Whale (Orca) (i.e. appearance and hunting marine mammals), it is not considered an actual Killer Whale.
It was amazing to see False Killer Whales alongside Humpback whales on today's whale watch cruise!