# What is this whale doing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-whale-doing/598065>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 29, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-whale-doing/598065 "2011-09-29T21:20:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-whale-doing/598065/1 "2011-09-29T21:20:18Z")

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

> **[ItemFix - Social Video Factory](https://www.itemfix.com/?r=ll)**
>
> Social Video Factory

Seeing this is news to me.

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**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-whale-doing/598065/2 "2011-09-29T21:42:18Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-whale-doing/598065/3 "2011-09-29T22:07:11Z")

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I hadnt considered that, good point.

Anyone else have ideas?

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**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-whale-doing/598065/4 "2011-09-29T22:26:10Z")

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It is [Luna](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_%28killer_whale%29), 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.

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**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-whale-doing/598065/5 "2011-09-29T22:51:25Z")

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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.