Ben, an orca in New Zealand, almost died twice more than two decades ago. First, he was stranded, then he was hit by a boat. But since then Ben has been thriving. He’s been spotted in 48 locations around New Zealand, and he’s traveled about 29,000 miles, roughly the distance around the world at the equator. Now he’s the subject of a chapter in a new book. Read about him here at stuff.co.nz:
An orca who has twice dodged death is proving to be a poster boy for researchers thanks to the scars of his adventures.
Ben the orca is helping researchers understand where the whales go in New Zealand waters and how far they can travel.
In 1997, he stranded at a beach near Mangawhai, just north of Auckland, said Orca Research Trust founder Dr Ingrid Visser.
The original plan was to shoot the stranded orca but Visser managed to intervene and Ben was successfully helped back into the water after 21 hours.
The next year, Ben was spotted with substantial damage to his dorsal fin due to a boat strike, which Visser originally thought could kill him.
“Because the injury was so severe, we had grave concerns if he was going to survive at all – now he’s hunting sharks and rays with the same mates that he was hanging out with before.”
Since his injury, Ben – with his easily-recognisable dorsal fin – has been spotted by researchers, dolphin watchers and citizen scientists more than 140 times.
Each time he was identified, the Orca Research Trust logged the details using software originally designed for plotting the safe passage for ships.
Visser said over 21 years, Ben has been spotted in 48 locations cross New Zealand, including the Bay of Islands, Whangārei Harbour, Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, Tauranga Harbour, Kaikoura and as far south as Banks Peninsula.
He has swum at least 40,000km – the equivalent of a trip around the world.
“We have compelling evidence of the distances that Ben can and does travel, and they are remarkable. He has been documented swimming over 190km in a single day, which is just amazing given his injury.”
Ben is now the poster boy, or case study, for a chapter in a scientific book about the management and conservation of marine mammals.
Visser said Ben’s story reminds the public of the need to slow down and take care around these animals to avoid boat strikes…
The chapter, written by Visser, Tracy Cooper and Terry Hardie is published in the book Contributions to the Global Management and Conservation of Marine Mammals, which is free to download. Read more:
