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Behavioral ecologist Michael Weiss was browsing through new drone images of the orca pods that he studied in the Salish Sea when he saw one of the murderous whales that was wearing something green in his mouth and noticed an unusual behavior: some orcas rub against each other for 15 minutes per time.
In the beginning, Weiss didn’t think much about it “because whales do strange things,” he said. But more observations yielded similar sights on his drone camera. “I zoom in, and yes, there is clear as a day this piece of kelp that they use to rub on each other.”
In the course of only two weeks in 2024, Weiss and his team documented 30 examples of these strange interactions. They discovered that the southern inhabitant Orcas – a separate population of murderous whales – strands of Bull Kelp of the seabed to roll between their bodies in a behavior that the scientists called ‘Allokeling’. Allokelt can be a form of care for skin hygiene, as well as a way to bind socially with other members of the POD, the researchers reported in a new paper published on Monday in the Current Biology magazine.
The discovery marks the first time that cetaceans – marine mammals including whales, dolphins and porpoises – have been observed with the help of an object as an aid to care for.
In the animal kingdom, the use of aids is rare, according to behavioral ecologists. But when it happens, it is often to find food or to attract friends. “This is a very different way to use an object,” said Weiss, main author of the study and research director of the Center for Whale Research in Washington State.
Allokelt theories
There are two possible reasons for the Allokeling behavior, the assumed Weiss and his team.
Hygiene, such as treating or removing dead skin, can be an explanation. Cetaceans often throw out dead skin, which helps to keep their bodies smooth and aerodynamic. Skin injuries, especially gray spots, are increasingly common in the southern orcas, Weiss added, so allokelting can be a way to treat those lesions.
The other hypothesis, Weiss explained, is that Allokelting is a way to strengthen social bindings, because the whale who showed this behavior were usually close relatives or similar to age.
“These guys are incredibly socially connected,” says Deborah Giles, an orca scientist at the Seadoc society who was not involved in the research. This behavior is fascinating but not completely surprising, she added.
Orcas are curious and tactile, with brain that are large compared to their body size, explained Giles, and added that some parts of the murderous whale brain have been developed more than what is seen in people. Every orca population even has its own dialect.
Cetaceans also have sensitive skin, explained Janet Mann, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Georgetown who has studied Marine Mammals for 37 years. Orkas are known to rub on other objects, such as beaches of slippery Pebble in Canada, or on algae mats. But it is unusual to see two individual murderous whales that use an aid to apparently exfoliate each other, she said.
“What (the study) demonstrates is that we know very little about the behavior of cetaceans in the wild,” said Mann.
Allokelting would probably not have been discovered without progress in drone and camera technology, who have opened “a whole new world” to scientists to better understand the complex lifestyle of the wispy, Mann said. Historically, whales are observed from the coast or from boats, which offer a limited perspective on what is happening in the water. But drones offer a bird’s eye view of what marine animals do just below the surface. It is likely that this population has been allooks for a while, she said – only now we can see it.
Thanks to drone images, a small length of kelp is visible between the two whales that are ‘Allookelt’. – Center for Whale investigation
Cultural phenomenon
Orca scientists with drone images will probably be looking for this kind of behavior, Giles said.
Killer whales, however, are not the only wispy people who are known to use tools. Some bottlenosis dolphins have been carefully removed and the use of sponges to accumulate prey on the seabed, a refined behavior that only a small part of the population has, said Mann, who has studied the dolphins in the Shark Bay of Australia.
Some other bottlenosis dolphins use their tails to hit the ground in a circle, creating mud ring plumes that catch fish. And humpback whales have used bubble nets for a long time to catch prey.
Whether these examples use ‘tools’ are a subject of debate in the scientific community, but anyway, these are all behaviors related to foraging for food. What makes Allokelting unique are the potential benefits for the health and relationships of the skin – in other words, it seems to be a cultural practice.
“This idea of allogrooming (with tools) is largely limited to primates, which makes it remarkable,” said Philippa Brakes, a behavioral ecologist with the non -profit whale and dolphin retention that was not involved in the study. “This kind feels like a time in time for cetacre, because it proves that you do not necessarily need a thumb to be able to manipulate a tool.”
Brakes, who study social learning and culture in cetanted ones, added that this new research “tells us a lot about how important culture is for these species.” Every population – in this case, Southern Resident Orcas – has a clear dialect for communication, specific foraging strategies and now a unique type of tool use.
In a rapidly changing environment, brakes said: “Culture offers a phenomenal way for animals to adapt,” as it has for people.
“It is more reason to ensure that we protect both their habitat and their behavior,” she noticed.
A ‘completely new’ find
Southern Resident Killer -Walvissen are indeed critically threatened and federally protected both in the United States and in Canada, with a total population of only 74 whales. And because Bull Kelp is declining as a result of human activities that disturb the seabed and more frequent heat waves caused by climate change, the overall ecosystem is humiliating.
Kelp -Bossen are also critical daycare center habitat for youthful Chinook -butterm -an important part of the diet of murderous whales, Giles said. Southern inhabitants have spent less and less time over the years in the Salish Sea, possibly due to a decreasing prey, said Monika Wieland Shields, also -founder and director of the non -profit Orca Behavior Institute.
“This study makes me wonder whether one of the reasons why the southern inhabitants continue to visit the Salish Sea periodically, even in times of low salmon, it is all sort,” Shields wrote to CNN in an e -mail.
The research now leads to new study areas.
“This Walpunt is very important because it is completely new,” says Dora Biro, a researcher of the cognition of animals at the University of Rochester who was not involved in the study.
Biro, who mainly studied tool use in wild chimpanzees, added that examples of the use of terrestrial tools are much more widespread than in water environments. She is now working on a subsidy proposal with the Weiss team to better understand the purpose of the behavior.
But for braking there is not necessarily a goal: “The goal can simply be a social bond, and that would still make it a tool.”
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