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Researchers have seen killer whales work together with dolphin Hunting salmon and sharing the spoils for the first time raises questions about their intelligence and social life.
In recent years, advanced surveillance using new technology such as drones has exposed a world unique behavior among orcas,
For example, researchers recently found Orcas near the Gulf of California had acquired special skills for hunting the whale shark, the world’s largest fish.
Studies have also documented orcas sharing food with humans for the first time, using seaweed to exfoliate their skin, and harassing porpoises for no particular reason.
Now, researchers have looked at killer whales Cooperatively hunting with dolphins off the coast of British Columbia.
The two species in the region show no signs of fighting or avoiding each other, leading Canadian researchers to suspect they may cooperate rather than compete for food.
Orcas were previously known to share their prey with pod members, but did not share widely with other marine species.
Researchers examined the hunting behavior of nine resident orcas and their interactions with Pacific white-sided dolphins around Vancouver Island in August 2020.
They collected movement data, underwater footage, audio recordings and aerial drone footage to understand how orcas moved and hunted in the area.
They observed 25 instances of orcas changing course after seeing dolphins chase them into a dive.
Researchers suspect that these may be cases of orcas tuning out their own noise and following sonar-like dolphin navigation. Such technology could help killer whales detect Chinook salmon, which are too large for dolphins to catch and swallow whole.
Of eight recorded instances of orcas capturing, eating and sharing Chinook salmon with their pod near Vancouver Island, researchers observed dolphins in four.
In one example, they observed dolphins breaking down the remains of adult salmon plucked by orcas into pieces small enough for them to eat.
“Fishes caught by killer whales were brought to the surface and separated to be shared with other matrilineally related pod members,” said researchers in a study recently published in the journal Nature. Scientific Reports,”While the dolphins who came with them were cleaning the garbage.”
These unique interactions may help local orcas more easily locate salmon, he said, while also providing the dolphins an opportunity to eat the scraps.
However, researchers have called for further studies to investigate this unique case of cooperation between marine species.