FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. — In one coastal Indian legend, orca was created by Natsalane, a great hunter who carved a "blackfish" out of yellow cedar and commanded it to kill his wicked brothers-in-law.
Orca tore the men to bits and then returned to Natsalane, a Tlingit man who ordered the sleek black-and-white animal never again to prey on humans.
To this day, orca doesn't eat people. The creature is considered a custodian of the sea by the Tlingit people of southeast Alaska.
Orca, the oceans' top predator, has been feared and revered throughout history.
In many American homes, the best-known orca is Sea World's pleasing performer, Shamu, or the lovable, tragic Keiko, star of the "Free Willy" movies. The name--short for the Latin term Orcinus orca--is coming into use as a substitute for "killer whale." The marine mammal is actually a member of the dolphin family.
Orca's popularity is no surprise to researcher Ken Balcomb, who has devoted 20 years to separating killer-whale fact from myth in the picturesque San Juan Islands, scattered between the coast of northwestern Washington and British Columbia's Vancouver Island.
It's still a thrill for him to see the glistening black-and-white orcas swim past his research center, which is on a San Juan Island bluff overlooking Haro Strait.
"We all run down the hill to see them," Balcomb says.
"To me, the world appears healthy and complete when we have whales and eagles and wonderful wildlife to appreciate."
The Center for Whale Research here is supported by Earthwatch, a Watertown, Mass.-based nonprofit program that matches scientists doing exciting fieldwork with volunteers willing to pay to share the experience.
The center gets high marks from Washington Secretary of State Ralph Munro, a whale activist himself.
"It's plowing new ground consistently in breaking down all the myths that have existed all these years," Munro said. "These guys are hunting the truth."
Balcomb's project offers close-up views of the never-ending charms of orcas, which frolic in family groups, or pods, as they chase great schools of salmon headed inland to spawn.
Orca acrobatics can be breathtaking.
The adults, which range from 18 to 32 feet long, soar from the water in a splashing, body-twisting move called breaching. Another move, called spyhopping, involves popping their heads and torsos up from the waves.
