Latest news with #orca
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Wild orcas will sometimes offer food to humans
Orcas (Orcinus orca) don't appear to be big fans of yachts, but some of them may be curious about humans themselves. According to a study published on June 30 in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, cetology researchers have confirmed dozens of instances of killer whales intentionally approaching people and offering them food—a behavior they typically reserve for building bonds between orca pods. 'Orcas often share food with each other—it's a prosocial activity and a way that they build relationships with each other,' Jared Towers, a study lead author and executive director of the British Columbia-based research organization Bay Cetology said in a statement. 'That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.' Towers collaborated with Vanessa Prigollini at Mexico's Marine Education Association along with killer whale expert Ingrid Visser at the Orca Research Trust in New Zealand to collect incidents of the apex predators voluntarily meeting people. They ultimately confirmed 34 events spanning the last two decades. In total, 11 instances involved orcas approaching humans swimming in water, 21 cases occurred while people were on boats, and another two examples were recorded from shore. However, the researchers didn't simply take witnesses at their word. In order to be included in the study, a potential documentation needed to meet stringent criteria after reviewing any video and photographic evidence, as well as subject interviews. In each event, the orcas must have approached humans of their own volition, then dropped an item in front of them. The whales varied in both age and sex, but all except one appeared to wait for a reaction. In some cases, they even reattempted their food offers—a mix of fish, mammals, invertebrates, birds, as well as one reptile and one piece of seaweed. 'Offering items to humans could simultaneously include opportunities for killer whales to practice learned cultural behavior, explore or play and in so doing learn about, manipulate or develop relationships with us,' the researchers wrote in the study. 'Giving the advanced cognitive abilities and social, cooperative nature of this species, we assume that any or all these explanations for, and outcomes of such behavior are possible.' The team added these may be the first in-depth descriptions of non-domesticated animals behaving in ways that are usually reserved for household pets like cats and dogs. They may also mark the first accounts of wild predators purposefully employing prey and other objects to 'directly explore human behavior.' If true, these instances 'may highlight the evolutionary convergence of intellect between highest order primates and dolphins.'
CBC
a day ago
- Science
- CBC
Orcas might be trying to learn 'who we are' when they share prey with humans, study suggests
Jared Towers was in his research vessel on two separate occasions watching killer whales off the coast of Vancouver Island when the orcas dropped their prey directly in front of him and his colleagues. The encounters he describes as "rare" and awe-inspiring have led to a new study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Comparative Psychology, detailing researchers' experiences with killer whales apparently sharing their food with humans. "We have a long history of interacting with other animals, trying to feed them and gauging their responses. But it's very rare for any wild predator to do the same to us," said Towers, who is the executive director of the research group Bay Cetology. "This is really the first report of any kind in the literature documenting these cases for killer whales." Towers says he and his colleagues were cruising along when an orca appeared, setting off the second encounter in 2018. They stopped and watched it swim around before it reappeared and released a freshly killed seal next to the boat. "She could have dropped it off the stern or the bow, but she dropped it right in the middle of the vessel, right next to us," Towers said. "We just sat there watching this thing sink down into the water for about 10 or 15 seconds until she did a bit of a circle and came back and picked it up." It followed an encounter in 2015 that involved an orca opening its mouth and releasing a dead ancient murrelet, a kind of seabird, directly beside Towers's boat. He says that orca also left its prey floating for a few moments before taking it again. "It left us a bit awestruck," said Towers, adding the two cases stand out among the thousands of encounters with killer whales he's had around the world. "I started to think about these animals a bit differently at that point." Towers and his colleagues began an investigation that led to the study published on Monday, which examines 34 instances in which killer whales around the world appeared to offer their prey to humans. The researchers wanted to ensure the study only examined cases where whales were "going out of their way to engage with people rather than vice versa," said Towers, who is based in Alert Bay, B.C., off northeastern Vancouver Island. In order to be included in the study, the whales had to approach humans directly. Researchers considered cases where people had not approached the whales at a distance closer than 50 metres in the five minutes prior to the interaction taking place. In all but one of the situations, the study says the whales were observed waiting for people to respond before either recovering or abandoning their prey. "These weren't mistakes. They weren't like the killer whales accidentally dropped the food. They wanted to see how people responded," Towers said. The study does not rule out any selfish motivations behind the behaviour. But Towers says he feels the apparent prey sharing is "altruistic" and "pro-social." Sharing food among relatives and other orcas is foundational for the whales, and in attempting to provision humans with prey, he says it could be an example of the whales practicing a cultural behaviour or exploring humans' capacity to respond. WATCH | Orca whales spotted off Cape Breton in 'once in a lifetime' experience: Orca whales spotted off Cape Breton in 'once in a lifetime' experience 26 days ago Duration 0:52 "I think these cases may really be pro-social representations of conscious learning where these whales are going out of their way to actually try and understand ... who we are and how we might interact with them in their environment," Towers said. Given the advanced cognitive abilities and the social, co-operative nature of killer whales as a species, the study says the researchers "assume that any or all these explanations for, and outcomes of, such behaviour are possible." The whales in the study were transient orcas off the coasts of B.C. and Alaska, the Eastern Tropical Pacific population off the coast of California, along with killer whales around New Zealand, central Argentina and Norway. All of the "offering" events took place between 2004 and 2024, the study says. Orcas commonly use prey to engage in play, and the study acknowledges that 38 per cent of the prey-sharing cases it examined appeared to incorporate play. The whales may have been using their prey to instigate play with humans, it says. But for several reasons, the study says the researchers do not believe play was the driving factor behind the apparent offerings. WATCH | The moment an orca 'moonwalked' off the coast of West Vancouver: #TheMoment an orca 'moonwalked' off the coast of West Vancouver 22 days ago Duration 1:18 Allison MacGillivary recounts the moment she and her family spotted a killer whale swimming backwards off the shoreline in West Vancouver. Play often occurs after whales have met their nutritional needs, but in the cases of prey sharing with humans, the offerings were whole in about half of the encounters. The orcas in the study mostly recovered the prey after it wasn't accepted by humans and often went on to share it with other whales. In most cases, the interactions did not last longer than 30 seconds. By contrast, the study says the whales typically engage in play more continuously. The study concludes the whales possess the capacity and motivation to share food for multiple reasons that could include intellectual or emotional benefits. "Offering items to humans could simultaneously include opportunities for killer whales to practice learned cultural behaviour, explore or play and in so doing learn about, manipulate or develop relationships with us," it said. Towers says he hopes the study provides an opportunity for people to look at killer whales in a different light, sparking curiosity about their capacity to think "and perhaps even have some convergent evolution of intellect with us." The researchers strongly discourage people from accepting any prey offered by orcas, due to the potential for both species to harm one another, Towers added.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
I was a big orca fan – but their skincare regime is giving me the ick
I've thought for a while that it would be nice to be an orca. Not because I hate boats and they sink them (though I get it – the briny depths are none of our human business). What actually appeals is the idea of being charismatic megafauna – I love that phrase – and also important as a post-menopausal female. Orcas are one of very few species that go through menopause, living for decades after their reproductive years. These older matriarchs remain an integral part of the community, improving pod survival rates thanks to being 'repositories of ecological knowledge', caring for young and even, research suggests, keeping their giant adult sons safe from being attacked. The fact that they're fashion-conscious is a bonus: the 80s orca trend for wearing jaunty salmon fascinators was revived, intriguingly, in some pods last December; other orcas have been observed draping themselves artistically in kelp. But new research is giving me pause. Now orcas in the Salish Sea off the coast of Washington state have been filmed picking kelp stalks and 'massaging' each other with them. In sightings of this behaviour, reported and dubbed 'allokelping' by the Center for Whale Research, 'the two whales then manoeuvre to keep the kelp between them while rolling it across their bodies … During contact, whales roll and twist their bodies, often adopting an exaggerated S-shaped posture.' Whether this weirdly acrobatic seaweed exfoliation is more about skincare or social bonding is unclear, but it's fascinating. It's also, however, off-putting. There's a nauseating 'mud-daubed couples' cute spa selfie' or 'wearing matching thong swimwear to give each other a scrub at the mixed hammam session' vibe to this kelp massage business. It seems out of character for my orca heroines: this is the kind of performative sensuality I can imagine dolphins indulging in (don't get me started on dolphins). I'm choosing, however, to have faith. Hopefully 'allokelping' will be revealed to be a creative part of a greater orca plan – perhaps to destroy humanity by giving us a catastrophic inter-species ick? I can't become one, but I remain, as ever, ready to accept my orca overladies. Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
I was a big orca fan – but their skincare regime is giving me the ick
I've thought for a while that it would be nice to be an orca. Not because I hate boats and they sink them (though I get it – the briny depths are none of our human business). What actually appeals is the idea of being charismatic megafauna – I love that phrase – and also important as a post-menopausal female. Orcas are one of very few species that go through menopause, living for decades after their reproductive years. These older matriarchs remain an integral part of the community, improving pod survival rates thanks to being 'repositories of ecological knowledge', caring for young and even, research suggests, keeping their giant adult sons safe from being attacked. The fact that they're fashion-conscious is a bonus: the 80s orca trend for wearing jaunty salmon fascinators was revived, intriguingly, in some pods last December; other orcas have been observed draping themselves artistically in kelp. But new research is giving me pause. Now orcas in the Salish Sea off the coast of Washington state have been filmed picking kelp stalks and 'massaging' each other with them. In sightings of this behaviour, reported and dubbed 'allokelping' by the Center for Whale Research, 'the two whales then manoeuvre to keep the kelp between them while rolling it across their bodies … During contact, whales roll and twist their bodies, often adopting an exaggerated S-shaped posture.' Whether this weirdly acrobatic seaweed exfoliation is more about skincare or social bonding is unclear, but it's fascinating. It's also, however, off-putting. There's a nauseating 'mud-daubed couples' cute spa selfie' or 'wearing matching thong swimwear to give each other a scrub at the mixed hammam session' vibe to this kelp massage business. It seems out of character for my orca heroines: this is the kind of performative sensuality I can imagine dolphins indulging in (don't get me started on dolphins). I'm choosing, however, to have faith. Hopefully 'allokelping' will be revealed to be a creative part of a greater orca plan – perhaps to destroy humanity by giving us a catastrophic inter-species ick? I can't become one, but I remain, as ever, ready to accept my orca overladies. Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
RNZ News
7 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Dead orca discovered on beach in Christchurch
An adult orca has been discovered dead at a beach in Christchurch. The Department of Conservation (DOC) have called the death "unusual" and said they were at the scene at a beach north of Waimairi along with local iwi and members of Project Jonah. DOC Mahaanui Operations Manager Andy Thompson, said a member of the public alerted DOC to the situation, and due to "challenging" sea conditions the body was unlikely to be moved before Friday morning's low tide. Staff would remain at the beach overnight, Thompson said. "We understand the orca was dead when it was spotted by a member of the public who alerted us. We ask that the public stay away to give staff and iwi the space to respond to this incident." The adult orca was first noticed by a member of the public at a beach north of Waimairi. Photo: DOC / SUPPLIED A vet pathologist would fly down to Christchurch from Massey University on Friday, Thompson said, to perform a necropsy on the orca to try and figure out how the animal had died. "Appropriate tikanga will be followed and the orca will then be buried on the beach," he said. "It's unusual for an adult orca to be found dead in the shallows like this and in good condition. Our national marine team are very keen to find out why the animal has passed away." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
