There’s One in Every Family…
If you have a big family, you may find that there’s that one family member that is always off getting themselves into trouble. Well beneath the surface of the Salish Sea, there’s a killer whale that is notorious for finding his way into all sorts of situations. That whale is T65A5 also known as “Indy!” He is the fifth of six offspring (five surviving) of T65A “Artemis” and while he can be spotted swimming amongst his family unit or matriline, for them this is usually a temporary reunion as Indy is more commonly off galavanting on his own or socializing with many other families– being Mr. Indy-pendent.
While Indy is such an interesting character, the T65A family as a whole is quite an impressive clan– let’s get to know them all and more about Indy and his little mishaps along the way.
T65A’s- The Lineup
Matriarch, Artemis “goddess of the hunt” leads a strong and successful family true to her namesake. She has five thriving offspring each born in practically perfect intervals of 3 to 4 years apart. Taking note that the gestation period for killer whales is approximately 18 months, then they go on to nurse for about 1 to 2 years– this mama didn’t catch much more than a few months to maybe a year between pregnancies and feeding a new calf. She is a goddess indeed! Artemis is also the daughter of T65 “Whidbey II” who travels with T63 “Chainsaw,” (presumed son of T65 and brother of T65A) a large male seen in the Salish Sea on occasions who is infamous for his extra gnarly dorsal fin.
Although Indy has the reputation for “dispersing” frequently, this behavior is a common theme within this family unit as a whole and has also been documented with his three eldest siblings. In the whale watching community we often use this term “dispersing” referring to when one of the matriarch’s offspring leaves the group to begin their own unit. Most often this is associated with a female reaching sexual maturity and beginning to bear calves of her own in which she then becomes the matriarch of her own matriline. Males typically choose to stay with their mother throughout their lifetime, but in several families some males, like Indy, have dispersed and become solo travelers or form their own units. When looking at the T65A family, the “core matriline” consists of T65A (Artemis), T65A2 (Ooxjaa), T65A3 (Amir), T65A4 (Ellifrit), and T65A6 (Callisto). But the comings and goings of these individuals always have us counting to see who is actually present on any given sighting.
Ooxjaa (T65A2), the eldest and fully sprouted male went viral when he had a fun run in with a local, private boat in 2021. The encounter included him bumping and nudging the boat in circles for about 10 minutes– check out the video of this unusual moment here. Ooxjaa has been seen on just a few occasions swimming solo, but also had a brief sibling adventure with his younger sister, Ellifrt in the Summer of 2022. It’s still a wonder if these occurrences are by choice or if they somehow lose the group temporarily.
Amir (T65A3) is now also a fully sprouted male. He spent a good portion of the Spring 2024 season travelling separate from the core matriline, but interestingly linked up with his crazy younger brother– you guessed it–Indy! These two were spotted together for over 25 consecutive days between April and May, then joined up with “grandma” T65, Whidbey II and “uncle” T63, Chainsaw for another jaunt in which they were all seen together for over 10 days. I find these dynamics of who they choose to socialize with so interesting!
Ellifrit (T65A4) is right around the prime time for potentially dispersing to begin her own family, though she is still seen with her matriline aside from the one escapade with Ooxjaa in 2022. Her and Indy also have almost identical little notches midway down their dorsal fin that could make them hard to distinguish when seen together. Once Indy begins to “sprout,” which likely could be starting over the next couple years, the size differential will then become an easy tell tale sign of who is who.
Callisto (T65A6), as the youngest in the family, is still a juvenile and has not yet been seen to separate from the group. She made quite the sweet debut in April 2018 as whale enthusiasts had the chance to see her in the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands after she was only a few days old.
Back to Indy (T65A5), the second youngest; he began to “disperse” since he was about five years old. He does it all– travels solo, finds distant family members, befriends his elders, socializes with young families, and then reunites with his own family– there seems to be no boundaries for him. I imagine him to be a very well-rounded, free-loving whale, we should all be more like Indy! Well– until he does what Indy does best– gets himself into trouble.
The Mischief Maker and His “Close Calls”
One of the occasions that Indy is most known for is when he swam into a narrow lagoon by the Port Angeles Paper Mill in May of 2022. Due to a minus tide Indy became trapped in the lagoon overnight with very little space to swim, almost like he put himself into a tank. Eventually high tide came and he was able to swim free from the lagoon and onto his next venture– see the videos and article here about this event. Another incident with Indy happened to be witnessed during a tour with Blue Kingdom in 2023. We discovered that Indy had perhaps been playing with a crab pot (a behavior observed with some killer whales) leading to entanglement. While reports were made to NOAA and other whale agencies, fortunately intervention was not needed. Again Indy found a way to free himself from the line after swimming to shallower water and left unharmed. Check out more on this escape story here! He is certainly one special whale and we love seeing him wherever he pops up and whoever he pops up beside.
Recent Sightings of the T65A Family
Over the past several years of documenting the T65A family, they seem to ritually return to the Salish Sea in perfect congruence with “whale watching season”, beginning their visits around late March and departing around October. This could be due to pupping and weaning season of harbor seals in the Salish Sea (Bigg’s killer whales’ primary prey.) Travel patterns of many other families also align with the T65A’s, yet many are also quite different with year round sightings of certain families and others who are only seen once in a while. So while it is hard to say exactly what causes Artemis to bring her family back during the same time every year, we are definitely always happy to spend lots of time with this fun family of wanderlusts!
As you may guess with it currently being April, the T65A’s have already returned for the 2025 season!! They gave quite the entertaining kickoff to their arrival to some shore-based watchers along the Hood Canal with an breathtaking harbor seal chase that brought them just a few feet from shore– see this exciting video shared on the Orca Network here! Hopefully the next time you see them will be out on the water with us!! 😉
**Shortly after finishing this blog– Indy also made quite a shocking appearance returning to the Salish Sea with quite a bashed up backside and dorsal fin. Unsurprising that he found himself in a predicament again, but still leaving us in wonder of what he may have experienced and relieved that he escaped from whatever situation caused these new gnarly scars. Oh Indy!
