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...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...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 says.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."
More details at The Canadian Press.
More like 'Hop in the water to retrieve this nice, yummy morsel we have left you' ... and find out why we are called Killer Whales.
ReplyDeleteApex ocean bound predator meets apex landlubber predator ... in the former's element.
Cue Jaws music except it has already been used.
like this?
Deletehttps://www.tiktok.com/@foodporn/video/7491828593325083946?lang=en