Naming
When studies first began, it was assumed all orcas traveling together were part of the same pod. Initially, males were also thought to lead harems of females and their young. Some pods were therefore named after a distinctive male while others were named after other distinctive individuals.
The A5 Pod itself was named after a male orca, A5, also known as Top Notch. He was part of the A9 matriline, of which his mother, A9 (also known as Scar or Eve) was the leader. The A5 pod is currently made up of three matrilines. The line of A9 has died out with her sons, A5 (Top Notch) and A26 (Foster). She had no surviving daughters to carry on her line, although the matriarch of another family, A8 (Licka) was suspected to be her daughter. A9 washed up on a beach in Johnstone Strait in November 1990, her stomach containing 5 litres of fish bones representing 13 different species. Other whales in the pod include A23 (Stripe) and A60 (Fife).
Read more about this topic: A5 Pod
Famous quotes containing the word naming:
“See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul—half a drop! ah, my Christ!—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!—
Yet will I call on him!—O, spare me, Lucifer!—
Where is it now? ‘T is gone; and see where God
Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!—
Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“The night is itself sleep
And what goes on in it, the naming of the wind,
Our notes to each other, always repeated, always the same.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Husband,
who am I to reject the naming of foods
in a time of famine?”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)