Say “hello” to Wikie, a 16-year-oll orca whale, pictured above. Better yet, let Wikie say “hello” to you. Or “good bye.” If that’s not enough, Wikie also can count, at least as far as “one, two, three.” New research, just published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, says that Wiki is able to mimic a variety of human sounds on command, adding to the growing body of evidence that killer whales learn new sounds through social interaction. In the wild, orcas live in tight-knit pods with unique vocal traditions. Now scientists believe that the whales acquire these dialects…

Killer whales are harassing and hunting down fishing boats in Alaska, often tracking them for days before attacking their nets full of fish. The whales are smart and can distinguish between different kinds of boats, even recognizing the drone of the fishing boats’ hydraulic systems as they lower their nets into the water. And they’ve learned to ignore the electronic horns that were designed to drive them away; instead, the sound of the horn, one captain told the National Post, “became a dinner bell.” The problem is widespread, covering the Gulf of Alaska, the Aleutians and up to the Bering…

The last time anyone saw Granny, the world’s oldest killer whale, was more than two years ago in the Salish Sea between  Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle. Researchers, who had been studying orcas there for many years, thought she was about 100 years old then, qualifying her as the oldest killer whale on the planet, and she was still using her accumulated wisdom to find food for her whale family. They now assume that she has died. Read about Granny here: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38496164 http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38496164