Old Tom was a male orca who cooperated with and assisted whalers in the port of Eden, New South Wales, on the southeast coast of Australia. Old Tom was believed to be the leader of a pod of orcas which helped the whalers by herding baleen whales into Twofold Bay. This pod was also known as "the killers of Eden".
Skeleton of Old Tom in the Eden Killer Whale Museum
Twofold Bay and surrounding area, marking the Davidson family whaling station
Davidson family whaling station in Kiah Inlet, Twofold Bay, Eden, NSW.
Old Tom swims alongside a whaling boat, flanking a whale calf: The boat is being towed by a harpooned whale (not visible here).
The orca, or killer whale, is a toothed whale that is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus. Orcas are recognizable by their black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, they are found in diverse marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas.
Orca
Orcinus citoniensis fossil, an extinct species of the same genus, Museo Capellini in Bologna
Modern orca skeleton, Naturalis, Leiden
An orca leaps out of the water when swimming—a behaviour known as porpoising—in Hood Canal
