for the past couple weeks, i have been debating my ecotype and i finally have it worked out. i am not a norwegian orca. im not a russian transient. im a scottish orca (specificially one from the shetland islands)!
i used to very firmly identify as a norwegian orca but over time that firmness has started to dissapear, leaving me doubting my ecotype/population. it started with believing im a norwegian but that soon morphed into a russian resident, then a japanese resident, and a japanese transient then russian transient before i landed on icelandics in july. i was firm on that identity for a couple weeks but i eventually circled back to being a norwegian orca. for a brief period of time after deciding im a norwegian orca i doubted myself again. at the time, i didnt say what ecotype i believed i could be because i predicted i would backtrack to norwegians once more (i was correct). i will now say i was debating being an alaskan transient. not all that long ago, early this month, i yet again fell into a period of self doubt. norwegian orcas were maybe doing it for me once but it just.. isnt me. i thought on it for a bit and i came to the conclusion im more of a mammal eating orca than i thought. i was instantly drawn to russian transient orcas. ive always envied russian transients and their size and mysteriousness so it only makes sense i wanted to be one. but you cant wear a pair of shoes that doesnt fit you. im simply not a russian transient. i know this because A) the label never fully sat right with me when i said i am biologically a russian transient, B) theyre pure mammal eaters when i know i eat fish, even if not reguarly.
I, despite my struggles, do have stuff that i KNOW my ecotype or population has/does: eats both fish and mammals, large eyepatches, light saddle patches, and lives in an almost mountainous region (similar to fjords). this evening, i was looking at pictures of orcas when the realisation hit me: im a scottish orca. everything about them is me. i dont even know how im going to explain this as theres just so much to go over, but i will try!
appearance
when thinking of myself, i see the appearance of an orca from the north atlantic. angled fin, light saddlepatch, big eyepatches.. you get the idea. so, when i identified as a russian transient for a few days and i imagined myself with the appearance of one - small eyepatces, pointed fin - i was incredibly uncomfortable. i tried to tell myself, 'this is what i am, a russian transient. maybe i am so used to picturing myself as a north atlantic orca i struggle to do anything different' but i knew that isnt the case. I couldn't lie to justify myself. I dont have a pointed fin or small eyepatches.
Below is what you can expect a transient orca to look like and a north Atlantic orca to look like.
disclaimer: I know that orcas of the north atlantic are no longer labeled type 1 and 2 but rather split into their populations (norwegian, Icelandic, Shetland islands, west coast community)
Norwegian orcas follow the appearance of a north atlantic orca. I identified as a norwegian orca for years. You know what population in the north atlantic also has a similar appearance? Orcas of the Shetland islands.
Diet & hunting
Shetland islands orcas are both mammal and fish eaters. The migratory pods (which is what i believe i am a part of) eat herring in the winter when the herring are migrating up north but they eat seals in the summer. They also prey on the occasional seabird when the chance arises. Need i say more? This is my diet. I can see myself following this and living off it very comfortably.
When hunting seals, skws (Scottish killer whales) travel very close to the shore to scout for seals. When they have a seal in the water, they bat it around with their tails and chase it. This hunting technique is very.. natural to me. Practicing it on balls in the swimming pool always gives me a feeling I cant quite explain.
location
Scottish orcas live around the north eastern Shetland/northern Isles. Take note of how close Shetland is to Norway. I have also attached a photo of 032 Busta with the coast behind him to show how rocky the Shetland coast is. I think i got mixed up with the fjords of Norway and Scotlands rocky coast
other stuff
Some Scottish orcas have actually been recorded travelling to Iceland and Norway. Could this play a part in why i feel so connected to Norway and Iceland, and have considered being one of their orcas?
What does this mean for my blog?
Honestly.. not much. Asides from an id number change. Shetland orcas dont have letters in their id name (which, not to toot my own horn, i think is quite cool) so I am no longer NKW-156, just 156. Im not changing any of my names. I might change my id number in the future, but I am still quite content with it as of now! Nothing about my appearance as an orca has changed, either
To anyone who is experiencing troubles with narrowing something down in your identity, please make sure your horizons are wide. I limited myself to the orca populations I am drawn to and spent little time looking into other possibilities for a population that is truly me. Reminder your identity is what you are, not what you like
So.. yeah. I guess thats my ecotype struggles officially over. It's taken me a long, long time to work this out but I am so pleased ive got it! Identity is a long process but all the struggle has been 100% worth it.
I am genuinely so overjoyed right now. Its possibly the best Christmas gift i could've ever given myself!!
