A pod consists of an orca mother, her young, and their extended family. Clans consist of different pods that share the same calls and form a distinct linguistic group. In British Columbia, resident orca pods form two communities - the southern resident community and the northern resident community. Each community acts as a support system for individual animals. In total, there are about 300 orcas within these two communities.
Orcas are very social animals.
Many hours of intermingling occur among individuals and pods from the same or different clans. Top of Page Main Index Marine Communities - Still Under Threat Human communities may depend on marine communities to survive, but we continue to place ocean health at risk. Anyone who thinks the responsibility lies only with the 25 per cent of Canadians that live on our coasts should realize that we all affect ocean health. Eighty per cent of marine pollution originates from land-based activities, generated mainly by individuals and communities, not industries. It is transported from far inland to oceans by our waterways and atmosphere.