Knife is a shy, elusive whale who can easily be identified underwater as result of several large, pronounced white markings on her belly and along the sides of her face and body. She typically positions herself on the periphery of the group and swims at a deeper depth than her family members.

She is an integral member of her very small social group, and we were fortunate to collect footage of Knife in 2019 when she swam in a tightly-knit grouping with whales from Units U and F. She was kind enough to swim with her belly up, presenting a ventral perspective for documentation.

Her shy behavior has remained consistent and if anything she has become more wary of humans as the phenomenon of in-water whale tourism has grown exponentially. We still see her, but underwater imagery collection is indeed challenging due to her avoidant behavior. Knife is slightly more confident when swimming alongside her unit members at which times she will cruise closer to our team members.

One of our more interesting observations is that there have been negligible changes to the edges of Knife’s flukes in the last several years, as can be seen and compared in the images below.