#x163

I was following you but how did I got unfollowed ? 🤔 Or this is new blog ?

I’m writing this on the fly. In the bath. Lying naked in too-hot water that has started to make me sweat. I can feel the trickles down my neck and the sides of my face. My face is flush. My heart pounding with the heat. My skin is very warm and slippery to the touch.

But not my breasts. They are cool. The water is not deep enough to keep them warm. They lie—exposed and wanting—on my warm, wet, and slippery belly. The fact they lie on my belly is not a detail I would have shared once. But I no longer care what strangers think of me.

I slide my legs against each other. The prickles agitate, but they are easily fixed. I have no need to impress. To hide the fact I grow hair on my legs. It is nothing to be ashamed of. I wonder why I often was. Ashamed, when I no longer care what strangers think of me.

This bath is for me and no one else. The bubbles pop. The water moves with me. I wonder if I should exfoliate. Give myself the gift of self care. The bath is only the first step. It goes with the ritual of the candles. The quiet. The time alone.

I guess this may not be the story you expected or hoped for. It is just a snapshot. Of reality. Reality is not always what we want. But I no longer care what strangers think of me.

Annual update to say 4 years ago was Stumpy X163′s last sighting*. Large gaps in her sightings are normal however. She wasn’t sighted between 1996-2002 and also 2005-2012 so perhaps she only travels to where the researchers are every 5/6 years, who knows!

2005

Year 2005 was one of the most productive and exciting years since the project started in 1987!

· Hjellskjæret · N-8312 Henningsvaer  Vester 2012

On the 17.05.2012 I encountered a group of orca (NKW‐AZ), with 10 members. This included one adult male, several females, two new born calves and one additional orca known as X-163 or “Stumpy”.

Stumpy X163

First Sighted: 1996 Estimated Birth year: 1995 Location:  Tysfjord, Norway Sighted with Pods: NE15 / NR / NKW‐H / NKW‐V / NKW‐AZ 

Why is she so important?: Stumpy is assumed to have been hit by a boat as a calf (under a year old) She has injuries to her dorsal, spinal deformity and injuries to her left side of her rib cage. It is possible she was born with some of these deformity’s.

Due to these disabilities, she is unable to dive or swim as fast as other killer whales, her growth is stunted as she is still (aged 20) the same size as a small calf. Also judging from the pitch of her blow - her lung capacity must be abnormally small. (Killer Whales with a Conscience 2013)

(Stumpy and a member of the NKW-AZ group) When she was first sighted in 1996 she was with her presumed mother. They were with the NE15 pod and neither were a previously sighted member of that pod. 

(Stumpy in 1996)  She was seven years old when she was re-sighted in 2002. Researchers were delighted to discover she had survived but were surprised to discover her mother had disappeared. She was then re-sighted over a period of three years with different pods (NKW-H/NKW-V) who were caring for her. A study published in 2004 (Stenerson & Similä) stated she had been sighted with a provisioned by no less than five groups.

(Stumpy being provisioned, a salmon was captured and bitten in half for her to eat)   “ I observed her participating in the search of and catching of fish but she was seen often close to a big male, who may have been provisioning her or providing her with protection. “  -  Heike Vester

(Stumpy in 2012)  In 2012 she was sighted with the NKW‐AZ pod. She is now Seventeen years old and was confirmed a female as her dorsal had not sprouted. 

If they're even distantly related, helping Stumpy would mean protecting at least some of their own genes, even though it comes at quite a cost when fish are in short supply. This is why Stumpy is so important, they show the killer whales pro-social behavior. They are caring for her even though in most other animal society’s its survival of the fittest. Leave the weak to die as they are not able to sustain the species. 

Physiological evidence supports this idea. In 2006, specialized 'spindle' cells previously thought unique to primates were found in Killer Whale brains. (Whale Brains). These cells are located in the area responsible for speech, social organisation and empathy, and are credited with allowing us to feel love.

"Maybe killer whales are even more similar to us than we suspected." 

 -  Heike Vester