Watch These Killer Whales Use Kelp as a Grooming Tool – A Surprising Find for Researchers
Many members of the animal kingdom, from birds to elephants, are known to manufacture and use tools. Now we can add another unexpected animal to the list – killers.
A team of whale experts observed a group of manufacturing endangered killers and using a Tool in Varech. Their results, published in Current biologyare the very first documented use of tools by marine mammals.
“We have found that the Southern resident killers regularly use Varech Bull lengths during social interactions, apparently as a tool to prepare for each other,” said Michael Weiss, of the Center for Whale Research, in a press release. “To note that the whales did not only use manufacturing tools, and that these objects were used in an never -reported way before in marine mammals, it was incredibly exciting.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60qm0rxgzj4
How do whales manufacture and use tools?
Bull Kelp is the material of choice for this population of resident killers. The whales break the ends of the stems of Varech Bull and use them to prepare. The grooming process involves a whale by pressing the Varech ends against another whale, then rolling the stems between them, often for a lot of time.
Although researchers observed this grooming behavior in all kinds of whales within this population – regardless of age, sex and social relationship – a type of whale seemed to be the most neat.
Killers which suffered from the most extreme cases of dead skin and moult frequently engaged in the grooming activity. This behavior suggests that the grooming ritual can be linked to improving whale hygiene.
This whale population has been under observation by scientists for decades, but grooming behavior has only been captured recently thanks to the technological progress of air observation.
“What I find most remarkable is that, despite this behavior apparently – we see it almost every day, we fly our drone on these whales – it had not yet been discovered in this population despite almost 50 years of dedicated observation. For me, it shows not only the power of new methods of observation, but also how much we still have to learn about these animals,” said Weiss in the press release.
Find out more: Orcs can be smarter than you think, here is what you need to know about their behavior
A population of unique and threatened whales
The talented whale group is part of a population that lives in the Salish Sea, located between British Columbia and Washington. Known under the name of residents of the South residents, these whales are in danger critically, with around 80 across the Northwest Pacific.
Their ability to make tools is only a other unique aspect of this whale Population, known for being genetically, ecologically and culturally distinct. The current team observing this group has been watching them since 2018, hoping to know more about their separate behaviors, such as finding food and socialization.
“This observation highlights another way in which the society and the culture of these whales are unique and the importance of recovering the population of resident killers of the South,” Weiss said in the press release.
Although there remains a mystery, whether the manufacture and use of tools are a particular characteristic of these whales or a practice shared by other whale populations, the results change the way in which we understand marine mammals. By observing this behavior, scientists now know that whales are able to use tools and can use this knowledge to open new areas of maritime research.
Learn more:: Orcs imitate human speech as a way to communicate with us
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com Use studies evaluated by high -quality peers and sources for our articles, and our publishers examine scientific precision and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
As a Marketing Coordinator of Discover magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers through the social networks of Discover and writes digital content. Offline, she is responsible for courses in English and cultural studies at Lakehead University, by teaching lessons on everything, from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and obtained her graduate diplomas in the same department of McMaster University. You can find more of its scientific writing in the laboratory and its short fiction in anthologies and the literary magazine through the kind of horror.
