{"id":238202,"date":"2026-01-17T14:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/238202\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T14:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:51:07","slug":"watch-close-encounter-with-orcas-in-wellington-harbour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/238202\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Close encounter with orcas in Wellington harbour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Orcas have been spotted scouting the waters of Wellington Harbour.<\/p>\n<p>Footage, captured on Saturday from Seatoun Wharf, shows two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/world\/582001\/some-dolphins-appear-to-have-orca-friends-scientists-think-they-have-figured-out-what-s-going-on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">orcas exploring Wellington Harbour<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The orcas are reportedly named Funky Monkey and Pickle.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Department of Conservation, orcas commonly venture into Wellington Harbour throughout spring and summer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/world\/577945\/orcas-seen-hunting-great-white-sharks-to-eat-their-livers-in-drone-footage-recorded-in-mexico\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">looking for food<\/a>, often stingrays.<\/p>\n<p>Orcas are often seen exploring the northern end of the harbour, oriental Parade, Frank Kitts Park, the Lagoon, and the Kapiti Coast.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orcas have been spotted scouting the waters of Wellington Harbour. Footage, captured on Saturday from Seatoun Wharf, shows&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-238202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}