"Depending on who is doing it, the behavior could be play, could be practice (if a young animal), could be teaching (if a mom in presence of calf), etc.," NOAA Fisheries spokesperson Nicholas Rahaim told SFGATE via email.
An estimated 50,000 of these predators are in the wild, but oil spills, fishing gear and food scarcity continue to threaten their existence.
Last month, the same tour group spotted a rare white killer whale aptly nicknamed 'Frosty,' which was also spotted as far south as Ensenada and as far north as British Columbia.
The calves 'have made our secondary killer whale season so exciting this year and October is only getting started!' the group wrote in an Oct. 8 Facebook post.
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