A
Whale Named Patch
How do you think he got his name?
Cascadia Research of Olympia, Washington has been studying the Puget Sound “resident whales” for decades. They have identified a group of six to ten gray whales that visit the area each spring. One of them, Whale #49, is called Patch. He was first identified in Puget Sound in 1991. Patch is a favorite of many local whale watchers. They easily know him by the large white patch far back (toward his flukes) on his right side, as well as white patches on the underside of his flukes.
On April 11, 2010, Patch was attacked by a pod of transient killer whales. (These killer whales eat mammals and are different from the endangered Puget Sound orcas that eat salmon.) The atack was a gruesome and rare sight for whale watchers who saw it. Good news came a day later when Patch appeared to be OK when he was spotted swimming with other gray whales.
Howard Garrett of the Orca Network says there have been three other
reports of transient orcas attacking gray whales in Puget Sound; such
attacks are very unusual.
See Gray
Whales of Washington State for information on Cascadia
Research's photo ID studies of the Gray whales, as well as
their Field Identification
Guide.
