Are there any good pictures of skinny (emaciated) cetaceans? Learned about J-50 and Moby Doll recently, and seeing Moby Doll being described as having his ribs visible when he died made me really curious. I found overhead pictures of J-50, and you can definitely see how she’s thin when comparing to past pics or other orcas, but a pic of just her to my untrained eye is hard to immediately clock as starving. I also can’t really imagine a whale with visible ribs because I’ve only ever seen them round with blubber.
Sure - it's not pretty but it is definitely something that requires developing your eye for.
This is the detoriation of J17, a Southern Resident killer whale, documented from 2015 to 2019 via drone - an invaluable tool to observing weight and condition because of the very obvious shape of the animal from above:
The most obvious sign of emaciation is what is known as "peanut head" where the fat deposits behind the head have diminished to the point where there is an obvious dip.
This is J17 again showing the very severe peanut head. (Source)
J50 also showing peanut head
It's hard to see other signs in wild orca without the right equipment and unfortunately severe emaciation to the point of showing ribs is something that is mostly observed in stranded or dead whales - tw for dead animals and necropsy in the following:
Download scientific diagram | Emaciated female killer whale (ID# 20081021) from Hawaii Note the depression behind the head at the location o
You can see some examples of other cetaceans here too:
Download scientific diagram | Cetaceans with signs of emaciation: (A) Female bottlenose dolphin with calf (both emaciated, with ribs visible
Hope that helps!
