Some Killer Whales Share Their Lunch with Humans, and May be Trying to Build Relationships
Have you ever planned to share your lunch with an orca? Because a new study suggests that they have thought of sharing their meals with you.
The study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology,, Identify 34 cases in which Orcas tried to share their prey with humans either in boats, in water or on shore.
“There seems to be a prosocial element in these cases, indicating an interspecific generalized reciprocity, which is extremely unusual to see in any non -human animal, and suggests evolutionary convergence between orcas and people,” said the author of the main study Jared Towers in a press release from the bay ketology.
Killers sharing their prey
Orca with stingray (left image gracked with corral Lucia, right image gracious from Leonardo Gonzalez)
According to the study, in 97% of observations, as the orcas approached humans, they dropped the prey presented and waited for humans to react. Then, the orcas would recover the prey and left, would share the meal with a different whale or would come back later with it.
In only four cases, people accepted the meal. In one of these four cases, after a researcher examined the food and then placed it in the water for the whale, the orca tried to return the meal to the human.
“Orcs are Apex predators who often eat other major mammals, but as far as people are concerned, they sometimes prefer to share, indicating their interest in establishing relations outside their own species,” said Vanessa Prigollni, author of the third study, in a press release.
Killer whale interactions
Orcs with Penguin (Image Gracious from Jared Towers)
The authors told their own experiences when Wild Orcas offered them food for this study, then interviewed others on the ground on their experiences. The 34 meetings took place over a period of 20 years and took place on six orcas populations in four different oceans.
These populations included: the population of Punta Norte Patagonia near the center of Argentina in the west of the South Atlantic, the populations of Pelagic Orca and Coastal around New Zealand in the South Pacific, the Transitory of the West Coast and the Gulf of Alaska Bigg in the North Pacific and the populations of Orca off the Côtes de la Norway.
In these cases, the Orca presented humans freshly captured fish, mammals or sometimes invertebrates. The preys were often died, except in a few cases, especially when an orca offered someone a SEVENGILL BRAADNOSE injured shark and another orc offered someone a stingray.
“Orca[s] are very social, and we frequently see them sharing food, “said the author of the second study, Ingrid screw in a press release.” Document and describe the behavior of them trying to share by humans in various places around the world is fascinating. “”
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Killers and theory of the mind
With so many cases of orcas sharing food with humans, the authors of the study wondered why it was. According to the study, there may be several reasons.
One of the reasons might be that killers often kill greater prey and can end up with more food than they need. If it is difficult to transport, prey can become more work than it really is. They can then offer it to others, including humans.
Another reason, suggests the study, is that orcas are highly social creatures and often share food between them, benefiting their society. They have high levels of encephalization, according to the study, which means that their brain is in relation to their body size, similar to humans. Orcs may also recognize us as intelligent creatures and may have a “theory of the mind”.
“Many spirits and varied sea, probably the largest are those of the orcas. District stories of their almost surreal intelligence abound. But here, these scientists have systematically gathered an impressive litany of cases where the living orcas have also shown that they have a theory of the mind, “said Carl Safina, an award -winning ecologist and an award -winning author.
“Psychologists have often insisted that the” theory of the mind “belongs only to humans. The orcas would set to postpone. The orcas have repeatedly sought to be interactive with us, and they are curious about us. After having lived millions of years in the sea, for them, we in our boats, we must have to visit foreigners. And indeed, we are foreigners.
Find out more: Orcs imitate human speech as a way to communicate with us
Article Sources
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A graduate of Uw-Whitewater, Monica Cull wrote for several organizations, including a focus on bees and the natural world, before coming to Discover Magazine. His current work also appears on his travel blog and his Common State magazine. His love of science came to watch PBS shows like a child with his mother and spend too much time at Binging Doctor who.
