Orcas might be trying to learn 'who we are' when they share prey with humans, study suggests

Brenna Owen · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jul 01, 2025 10:06 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Jared Towers was successful his probe vas connected 2 abstracted occasions watching slayer whales disconnected the seashore of Vancouver Island erstwhile the orcas dropped their prey straight successful beforehand of him and his colleagues.

The encounters helium describes arsenic "rare" and awe-inspiring person led to a caller survey published successful the peer-reviewed Journal of Comparative Psychology, detailing researchers' experiences with slayer whales seemingly sharing their nutrient with humans.

"We person a agelong past of interacting with different animals, trying to provender them and gauging their responses. But it's precise uncommon for immoderate chaotic predator to bash the aforesaid to us," said Towers, who is the enforcement manager of the probe radical Bay Cetology.

"This is truly the archetypal study of immoderate benignant successful the lit documenting these cases for slayer whales."

Towers says helium and his colleagues were cruising on erstwhile an orca appeared, mounting disconnected the 2nd brushwood successful 2018. They stopped and watched it aquatics astir earlier it reappeared and released a freshly killed seal adjacent to the boat.

"She could person dropped it disconnected the stern oregon the bow, but she dropped it close successful the mediate of the vessel, close adjacent to us," Towers said.

"We conscionable sat determination watching this happening descend down into the h2o for astir 10 oregon 15 seconds until she did a spot of a ellipse and came backmost and picked it up."

It followed an brushwood successful 2015 that progressive an orca opening its rima and releasing a dormant past murrelet, a benignant of seabird, straight beside Towers's boat. He says that orca besides near its prey floating for a fewer moments earlier taking it again.

"It near america a spot awestruck," said Towers, adding the 2 cases basal retired among the thousands of encounters with slayer whales he's had astir the world.

"I started to deliberation astir these animals a spot otherwise astatine that point."

Towers and his colleagues began an probe that led to the survey published connected Monday, which examines 34 instances successful which slayer whales astir the satellite appeared to connection their prey to humans.

The researchers wanted to guarantee the survey lone examined cases wherever whales were "going retired of their mode to prosecute with radical alternatively than vice versa," said Towers, who is based successful Alert Bay, B.C., disconnected northeastern Vancouver Island.

In bid to beryllium included successful the study, the whales had to attack humans directly. Researchers considered cases wherever radical had not approached the whales astatine a region person than 50 metres successful the 5 minutes anterior to the enactment taking place.

In each but 1 of the situations, the survey says the whales were observed waiting for radical to respond earlier either recovering oregon abandoning their prey.

"These weren't mistakes. They weren't similar the slayer whales accidentally dropped the food. They wanted to spot however radical responded," Towers said.

The survey does not regularisation retired immoderate selfish motivations down the behaviour. But Towers says helium feels the evident prey sharing is "altruistic" and "pro-social."

Sharing nutrient among relatives and different orcas is foundational for the whales, and successful attempting to proviso humans with prey, helium says it could beryllium an illustration of the whales practicing a taste behaviour oregon exploring humans' capableness to respond.

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"I deliberation these cases whitethorn truly beryllium pro-social representations of conscious learning wherever these whales are going retired of their mode to really effort and recognize ... who we are and however we mightiness interact with them successful their environment," Towers said.

Given the precocious cognitive abilities and the social, co-operative quality of slayer whales arsenic a species, the survey says the researchers "assume that immoderate oregon each these explanations for, and outcomes of, specified behaviour are possible."

The whales successful the survey were transient orcas disconnected the coasts of B.C. and Alaska, the Eastern Tropical Pacific colonisation disconnected the seashore of California, on with slayer whales astir New Zealand, cardinal Argentina and Norway. All of the "offering" events took spot betwixt 2004 and 2024, the survey says.

Orcas commonly usage prey to prosecute successful play, and the survey acknowledges that 38 per cent of the prey-sharing cases it examined appeared to incorporated play. The whales whitethorn person been utilizing their prey to instigate play with humans, it says.

But for respective reasons, the survey says the researchers bash not judge play was the driving origin down the evident offerings.

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Play often occurs aft whales person met their nutritional needs, but successful the cases of prey sharing with humans, the offerings were full successful astir fractional of the encounters.

The orcas successful the survey mostly recovered the prey aft it wasn't accepted by humans and often went connected to stock it with different whales. In astir cases, the interactions did not past longer than 30 seconds. By contrast, the survey says the whales typically prosecute successful play much continuously.

The survey concludes the whales person the capableness and information to stock nutrient for aggregate reasons that could see intelligence oregon affectional benefits.

"Offering items to humans could simultaneously see opportunities for slayer whales to signifier learned taste behaviour, explore or play and successful truthful doing larn about, manipulate or make relationships with us," it said.

Towers says helium hopes the survey provides an accidental for radical to look astatine slayer whales successful a antithetic light, sparking curiosity astir their capableness to deliberation "and possibly adjacent person immoderate convergent improvement of intellect with us."

The researchers powerfully discourage radical from accepting immoderate prey offered by orcas, owed to the imaginable for some taxon to harm 1 another, Towers added.