New research has confirmed that West Coast transient killer whales who live between British Columbia and California are two distinct subpopulations: inner and outer coast transients.

Based on 16 years of data from more than 2,200 encounters, the study published in PLOS One challenges previous assumptions about this group of mammal-eating killer whales.

“I've been thinking about this possibility for 15 years,” says first author Josh McInnes, who conducted the research as part of his masters at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF). “Now our findings show the West Coast transients are two distinct groups, split along an east-west divide. They eat different things, hunt in different areas and very rarely spend time with each other.”

A new study identified large clusters of food deserts, where residents have limited access to affordable, nutritious food, in East London—particularly Newham, Redbridge, and Barking and Dagenham—and in parts of west London such as Ealing and Brent. The findings were published November 6^th in the open-access journal PLOS Complex Systems by Tayla Broadbridge of the University of Nottingham, UK, and colleagues.