Vancouver Aquarium
Conservation in Action

Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard:

The real wild coast of British Columbia is home to an amazing variety of animals, including 29 species of marine mammals. The team at the Vancouver Aquarium has come to know some of them pretty well.

For over 25 years, the Aquarium’s scientists and staff have dedicated themselves to learning all they can about these wonderful creatures. We spent countless hours observing them here at the Aquarium and in the wild, studying their behaviour, their health, even how they talk to each other.

Gil Hewlett:

In the 1970s, we helped pioneer photo-identification to determine individual killer whales. With this technique we were actually able to follow the lives and fate of killer whales and forever changed how we viewed the species.

Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard:

We conducted groundbreaking research on whale communication and showed that each pod of resident killer whales has its own dialect, which it passes from generation to generation, much like a human language.

We also made fascinating discoveries about how they navigate and find their food, and we’re now using DNA fingerprinting to learn how they avoid inbreeding – a major concern, given their small population sizes.

Today, we’re working with scientists from universities and governments around the world. Together, we’re helping marine mammals on B.C.’s wild coast.

Not long ago, our knowledge was put to good use when we helped rescue a young killer whale named Springer, an orphan who ended up alone near Seattle, far from her family.

With our research colleagues, we were able to determine exactly who she was and where she came from. Through an unprecedented international effort, Springer was moved home and re-united with her family. When last seen, she was thriving.

Dr. Dave Huff:

This is something that would have been almost impossible were it not for the Vancouver Aquarium’s tremendous amount of hands-on experience gained through literally decades of working with killer whales. That knowledge and experience helped us understand the health, the social and the technical challenges that we had to overcome in order to make Springer’s move a success.