06/02/2026
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Ever seen an orca “moonwalk”? The unusual behavior occurs when a killer whale swims backward along the surface of the water, resembling Michael Jackson’s famous dance move.
While it may look playful, researchers believe the behavior serves a practical purpose. It is most often observed in transient, or Bigg’s, killer whales, which specialize in hunting marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and porpoises.
After a successful hunt, orcas often need to tear large prey into smaller pieces that can be shared among pod members. By swimming backward, they create drag and leverage in the water, helping pull prey apart more efficiently. Scientists have linked the behavior to food sharing within family groups, making the “moonwalk” an important part of an orca’s hunting and social behavior. If you go back and rewatch the video posted of the orcas in Depoe Bay, you can observe one of the orcas “Moonwalking” and it was missed by a lot of viewers. Some of the pod has been identified below.
T75B Pod Family:
* T75B Pebbles (female, born 1995)
* T75B2 Jasper (female, born 2015)
* T75B3 Rubble (male, born 2017)
* T75B4 Petra (female, born 2021)
This is a family group of Bigg’s (transient) killer whales that frequently hunts marine mammals along the Pacific Northwest coast.
