page_title: Granny (killer whale)
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Granny (killer whale) / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: The unique dorsal fin of J2 Granny, showing her half-moon notch, taken as she swam through Haro Strait in Washington State in 2007
context_page_description: Granny, also known as J2, was an orca (killer whale). She was estimated by some whale researchers to have been 105 years old, but her age is a source of dispute, with other studies putting her at age 65-80. If she was 105, she would have been the oldest known orca at the time of her death. A member of the endangered southern resident killer whale population, Granny lived in the northeast Pacific Ocean and coastal bays of Washington state and British Columbia. Granny was estimated to have been born in 1911. She was last seen on October 12, 2016, and was considered deceased by The Center for Whale Research in January 2017.
context_section_description: Granny was recognizable from the gray "saddle patch" just behind her dorsal fin, and a half-moon notch in her fin. Simon Pidcock of Ocean EcoVentures said he had seen Granny thousands of times, and that the markings on orca fins were like fingerprints.
  Granny had been captured with the rest of her pod in 1967 but was too old at that time for a marine mammal park and so was released.
  Now that orca studies have been conducted for several decades, the exact age of many younger whales is known. The age of older orcas, such as Granny, is estimated by their offspring; they give birth around age 15, and stop having offspring around 40; by adding the generations together, ages can be estimated. Granny was photographed in 1971 with a male orca, J1 Ruffles, who was believed at the time to be her son. Ruffles was estimated as at least 20 years old, and as scientists believed him to be Granny's last offspring, her own age was estimated at about 60. It was later discovered that Ruffles was not Granny's son, but her age estimate was never changed. Granny's age was originally estimated with a margin of error of 12 years, but was the subject of an academic dispute in 2016 due to her original age being based on evidence now known to be incorrect, as well as a large disparity between the life expectancy of orcas with estimated ages and orcas with known ages. Analysis of fatty acids from a recent biopsy of Granny indicated that Granny may have only been 65–80 years of age.
caption: The unique dorsal fin of J2 Granny, showing her half-moon notch, taken as she swam through Haro Strait in Washington State in 2007
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