Fish eating killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Avacha gulf off the coast of Russia tend to live in pods of 10-20 whales. But scientists have now observed 8 such pods coming together to form a super-pod of over 100 animals. This behaviour has also been seen in other parts of the world, such as Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia and Iceland.
Observations have now shown that the whales rarely forage or feed in these large concentration, and since they have very few natural predators, it is unlikely that they are gathering for mutual protection. Instead it seems that the whales are using these large groups to socialise, and perhaps to assess potential mates.
The above photograph comes from this BBC article.
