A bull's dorsal fin may be almost six feet high. Maturity may not be reached until the age of 15 to 20 years. Cows are thought to live longer than the bulls, with average life expectancy estimated to be 50 years. Some cows may be as old as 80. With well-understood movements, the Killer Whale has become an extremely popular attraction for British Columbia visitors.
Many companies offer whale watching cruises on Vancouver Island.
As concern grows about the negative effects of whale watching, these companies are working very hard to self-monitor their activities. There is to date no evidence that the whales are suffering because of humans' fascination with them. Each spring, some 20,000 Gray Whales move past the western shore of Vancouver Island, en route to summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. They return by the same route in the fall, to their calving and wintering areas in the lagoons of Baja California. Tiny marine organisms are thus captured by the baleen, and then swallowed by the whale.