L68, who had the adoption name Elwha, was a young male from the L pod family. The orcas of L pod are a major part of the Southern Resident killer whale community, who live in the coastal waters of Washington State. Elwha was one of my favourite orcas. I got to know him in the year 1992 when he breached right in front of our research vessel and showed his gender markings. By that we could identify him as a little male. Unfortunately he wasn't able to stay with us long enough to become a mature bull. He could have lived well into his fifties like his late big cousin, J1.