A young Pack ice killer whale investigates something she has never seen before in her life. Her family continues swimming steadily, but she is too intrigued to notice. Golden fronds beckon in the warm water, dancing weightlessly as she tries to grasp them. The fronds are small but together they form enormous pillars that reach all the way down into the deep dark blue. Giant kelp. Born in the frigid Antarctic waters, the empty ice-filled seas, spare for colourful starfish strewn across the pebbly ocean floor, had been all she’d ever known.
But now they have journeyed several thousand miles, leaving their Antarctic home behind to visit tropical waters off Brazil for a few weeks. The reason for their visit can be seen on their skin: diatoms cover it in patches, painting them a strange yellow. Unlike other cetaceans, who tend to continually shed their skin, Pack ice killer whales shed it all in one go. Their home waters are too cold to do so, which is why they have ventured so far away for a short ‘spa vacation’. For this young whale it is her very first visit, and the journey brings along many new and unexpected sights to see.
– Digital