What is this whale doing?

Are killer whales known for imitating sounds? What is going on here?

Seeing this is news to me.

Maybe there’s an obstruction in its blowhole that he wants to clear out.
Or maybe he just finds the sound funny.
But I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that he’s trying to imitate the sound of the propeller.

I hadnt considered that, good point.

Anyone else have ideas?

It is Luna, an orphan killer whale that was attracted to boats and did tricks for human attention. There’s actually nothing in that article about imitating boat sounds but google “luna orca imitate boat” and many videos identify the whale as Luna.

I’ve worked with Orcas in a Marine Park and heard them make all sorts of strange noises with their blowholes, both above and below the surface. They normally would do this between shows out of sheer boredom.

Why this particular Orca is doing it I can’t say, but I doubt it’s imitating anything.