Finally...back on the water on Thursday March 12!

Last Thursday, March 12, Five Star Charters had the first whale watching trip of the 2009 season! Even though it is still winter it was a beautiful day…the sun was shining and there was little wind. The Olympic Mountains in Washington State looked amazing especially with such good snowcover; a sight not commonly seen during the warm summer days of the whale watching season.

The Olympic Mountains, Washington State - Race Rocks is in the distance and Mount Olympus is the mountain seen through the Elwha River Valley

When we left the dock at 1530, with our group of die-hard passengers (and 5 crew!), we had no reports of whales. Another whale watching boat returned from a trip but, after searching the waters of Haro Strait east of Victoria, had no sightings to report. So we decided to head south towards Race Rocks and into the Strait of Juan De Fuca to see what we could find.

Rocks at Race Rocks with Mt Baker in background

View of Mt Olympus from Race Rocks

A couple days earlier, on the evening o f March 10, (check out the reports on Orca Sightings Network) J pod, one of the three, fish eating, Southern Resident Killer Whale pods, swam north past the Lime Kiln Lighthouse on the west shore of San Juan Island, Washington State (check out the Center for Whale Research encounter). Their vocalizations from the hydrophone at the lighthouse were amazing (OrcaSound Hydrophones with killer whale recordings) and, despite the tanker traffic, all who tuned in to OrcaSound hydrophones were able to listen to them for quite some time!

One of the pair of nesting bald Eagle adding sticks to nest at Albert Head

With the knowledge that J pod recently passed through the area we felt, despite how early in the season it was, there was a decent chance of seeing killer whales. As well, there had been many winter sightings of Transients or mammal-eating killer whales. Captain Trev and our local whale guru, Ron Bates of the Marine Mammal Research Group, decided we should head south along the shoreline of Vancouver Island, to check for Transients hunting for seals.

Harbour Seals hauled out with double crested cormorants at William Head

While we searched for marine life on our way to Race Rocks Marine Protected Area, the most southerly point of western Canada, we were fortunate enough to see a pair of nesting bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) at Albert Head. In fact, as we approached the nest we saw one eagle flying to it with a stick; it was adding new material to the nest! After seeing the eagles we continued past Race Rocks and along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful trip and, although nobody else spotted them, Captain Trev spotted a couple of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). It’s not surprising they were only seen once as this species of porpoise usually avoids vessels.

Club Fed! William Head minimum security penitentiary

We continued west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca until we reached Secretary Island off East Sooke Park where we saw many harbour seals hauled out on the rocks. Locally, harbour seals are affectionately known as ROCK SAUSAGES since they are one of the favourite foods of the Transient killer whales. As we turned around to head east, back to Race Rocks, the wind picked up a little; it was a somewhat bouncy and wet ride but our adventurous passengers appeared to enjoy it.

Harbour Seals aka rock sausages, at Secretary Island off East Sooke Park

Lighthouse at Race Rocks...looks like it's getting a new paint job!

At Race Rocks we cruised through the channel at Great Race to look for sea lions. There weren’t any on the channel side of Great Race but fortunately, just when we thought we were going to miss them, we spotted a nice group of Stellar sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) sitting on the southeast end!

Stellar sea lions at Race Rocks

After watching the sea lions' antics we headed back towards the Victoria waterfront taking in the spectacular views of Mt Baker in the early evening sun. Although we didn’t see any whales this trip we were lucky to see bald eagles building their nest, seals resting on the rocks, sea lions at Great Race and amazing views of snow-capped Mount Baker and Olympic mountains!

Olympic Mountains south of Race Rocks lighthouse

Mt Baker with and ships en route to inland waters

Our first passengers of 2009 (with Captain Trev and Ron)!

So I started reading this blog called MAIACETUS...

After much deliberation and input from friends and family I finally chose MAIACETUS for my blog name so I figure I should start by telling you about MAIACETUS. I chose MAIACETUS because it's a new term relevant to the world of marine mammal science. It's also a safer choice than some of the other, more entertaining & daring names I'd chosen (The Blowhole, The Fluke Files!) and I think it sounds cool.

So what is MAIACETUS and, on that note, how does one pronounce it?

First let’s start with the easy stuff…pronunciation! If you’re not a science/biology/latin nerd you might want to say MY-AH-KEETUS or MAH-EEE-AAAH-SEEET-US or MAH-EEE-AAAH-KET-US or the myriad variety of other pronunciation possibilities. I decided to check out the dictionary pronunciation for MAIA- and -CETUS and, according to the American Heritage pronunciation key, MAIA can be pronounced either mā'ə, mī'ə and CETUS is pronounced sē'təs. In other words say either:

MAY-UH-SEE-TUS or MY-UH-SEE-TUS

And that’s it, simple as that :-)

Now, what exactly is MAIACETUS? It’s an exciting paleontological discovery!

In 2000, a 47.5 million-year-old fossil was discovered in Pakistan by a research team led by University of Michigan palaeontologist, Philip Gingerich. Upon discovering the fossil the team realized they found the skeleton of a female whale and her fetus…the first discovery of a fetal skeleton in the taxonomic Group Archaeoceti, the group of whales believed to give rise to modern cetaceans (whales and dolphins)! The new species was called Maiacetus inuus; MAIACETUS means MOTHERWHALE and INUUS is the name of a Roman fertility god.

Adult female and fetal skeletons (type) of the protocetid Maiacetus inuus. Beige is female skull, blue is fetal skeleton

Source: Gingerich et al., 2009

Then in 2004, an 8.5 foot-long male specimen was collected from the same fossil beds. It had similar anatomical features to the female specimen but this skeleton, the most complete known Protocetid skeleton (the taxonomic Family which Maiacetus belonged to in the Group Archaeocetes), was 12% larger and had 20% larger canine teeth or fangs. This difference in sex sizes (known as sexual dimorphism) is not uncommon in whales and helps scientists understand social structure. The size difference in MAIACETUS was moderate (when compared to other sexually dimorphic species) suggesting that males didn’t control territories or harems of females.

As well, MAIACETUS’ teeth were BIG…this meant they were able to catch and eat fish so probably made their living at sea. Thus, according to Gingerich, MAIACETUS species made their living in the sea but came to land to rest, mate and give birth.

Skeleton of Maiacetus inuus (GSP-UM 3551, male)

Source: Gingerich et al., 2009

So, what is so important about these findings? MAIACETUS is a specimen representing the important transitional phase in whale evolution…the move from land back to sea. Hence, these fossils are valuable because they offer new information on the structural and behavioural changes that occurred as whales evolved from land dwelling to fully aquatic mammals.

For more information on MAIACETUS and whale evolution check out…

The Journal Article by Gingerich et al., at PloS ONE
The Amphibious Ancestors of Whales

Maiacetus Inuus - Fossils of Whales Reveal They Gave Birth On Land

Maiacetus, The Good Mother Whale

A first blog post on MAIACETUS!

Welcome to the first post on my blog Maiacetus (ooh exciting!)!

My name is Kyla Graham and I am a recent graduate of the Research Masters in Marine Mammal Science at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. I believe I can safely call myself a WHALE NERD…I have 13 years of experience in marine mammal ecotourism and research, have completed the marine mammal masters and am now plotting and scheming to start my PhD.

So what exactly is it I do? This summer I will be working primarily as a marine mammal observer (MMO) on seismic survey vessels for the offshore oil industry globally. When I’m home I will continue working as a naturalist in the whale watching industry around southern Vancouver Island. More importantly, I intend to get a PhD started within the next year! I am interested in looking at ways to improve methodologies used to research abundance, distribution and habitat use of multiple species of marine mammals focussing on the waters around southern Vancouver Island.

And the point of this blog?

• To chronicle, for myself and any who are interested, the mundane and not-so-mundane events in the life of a whale watcher, MMO-er, and soon-to-be marine mammal PhD student, aka a full fledged WHALE NERD.
• To share photos from the day-to-day life of a WHALE NERD.
• To track and share contemporary issues and topics in marine mammal science.
• To share factoids about some of the more obscure topics you need to know to be a true WHALE NERD i.e. what exactly is BOOTSTRAPPING and how does it relate to marine mammal research?

So, if you’re interested in WHALES (and other associated marine life!) and want to know more about living the LIFE of a WHALE NERD…stay tuned!