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Behavioral ecologist Michael Weiss browsed after a new orca pod drone footage he studied in Salish Sea when he noticed one of the killers’ whales carrying something green in his mouth and noticed unusual behavior: some orcs rubbing up to 15 minutes.
Initially, Weiss didn’t think much “because whales are doing strange things,” he said. However, he gave more observations similar to his drone camera. “I’m closer and enough for the day they use it is clear that they use each other to rub.”
In just two weeks in 2024. Weiss and his team document 30 examples of these interesting interactions. They found that the southern orcas, a separate population of the killer whale, had retreated from the seabed bull strands to roll between their bodies between their body, which scientists called “Alllokelping”. Allokelping can be a form of skin hygiene seduction as well as a way to socialize connection with other POD members, researchers reported a new report published on Monday in Current Biology.
This discovery marks the first time that Cetaceans – sea mammals, including whales, dolphins and pigs – were noticed using an object as a tool for the groom.
According to behavioral ecologists, tools in the animal kingdom are rare. But when this happens, it is often designed to find food or attract friends. “This is a completely different way to use an object,” said Weiss, the head of the Washington State Whale Research Center, and the Director of Investigation.
Alllockelping theories
There are two possible reasons for the behavior of Alllock, Weiss and his team hypothetize.
Hygiene, such as the treatment or removal of dead skin, may be one explanation. Cetaceans often drops dead skin, which helps keep their body smooth and aerodynamic. Skin lesions, especially gray patches, are becoming increasingly widespread in the southern orka, added Weiss, which can be a way to treat those lesions.
Another hypothesis, Wiss explained, is that “Alllockelping” is a way to strengthen social relationships, as whale pairs, seen by such behavior, were usually close relatives or similar to age.
“These guys are incredibly socially bound,” said Deborah Giles, a scientist at the Orca Society of Seadoc, who was not related to research. This behavior is fascinating, but not completely surprising, she added.
The orcs are also curious, and the brain is large compared to their body size, explained by Giles, adding that some parts of the killer whale brain are more developed than what is seen in humans. Each Orca residents even have their own dialect.
Cetaceans also has sensitive skin, explained by Janet Mann, an ecologist of Georgetown University’s behavior who studied marine mammals for 37 years. Orcas is known to rub other objects such as smooth smooth beaches in Canada, or on algae mat. However, it is unusual to see two individual killers whales, using a tool to seem to dry each other, she said.
“What (study) shows that we know very little about Cetacean behavior in nature,” Mann said.
It is likely that Allokelping would not be discovered without the progress of drones and camera technology, which has opened up a “whole new world” so that scientists could better understand the Cetaceans’s complex lifestyle, Mann said. Historically, whales are observed from the shore or from boats, offering a limited perspective on what is happening in the water. However, drones offer an image from the bird and the eyes, which the marine animals do just below the surface. It is likely that this population has been accumulating for some time, she said – only now we can see it.
Thanks to the drone’s footage, the small length of the brown -tongue is visible between the two whales that “stick”. – Whale Research Center
Cultural phenomenon
Orca scientists with drone footage are probably now looking for this behavior, Giles said.
Still, the killers’ whales are not the only cetaceans who use tools. Some bottles of dolphins were monitored by thoroughly removing and using sponge to intimidate prey on the seabed – complex behavior, which only a small part of the population is exhibited, said Mann, who studied dolphins in the Australian shark bay.
Some other bottles of dolphins use their tails to hide the ground in a circle, creating a mud ring burst that retains fish. And the backpack whales have long used bubble nets to catch the prey.
Whether these examples are “use of tools” are the topic of discussion in the scientific community, but nevertheless they are the behavior associated with food. Alllockelping is unique is its potential benefits for skin health and relationships – in other words, it seems cultural practice.
“This idea of algrozing (with tools) is mainly only for primates, which makes it wonderful,” said Philippa Brakes, a behavioral ecologist with non -profitable whale and dolphin protection that was not related to research. “At a moment of this type of Cetaceans, because it proves that you don’t necessarily need a thumb to manipulate the tool.”
Brakes studying social learning and culture to Cetacems added that this new study “tells us quite a lot about the importance of this species of culture”. Each population – in this case, has a separate communication dialect, specific food strategies and now a unique type of tool use.
In a rapidly changing environment, the brakes stated: “Culture gives a phenomenal way to animals to adapt,” as in humans.
“These are more reasons to ensure that we protect their habitats and their behavior,” she noted.
“Brand new” find
Indeed, the whales of the South killers are critically endangered and federally stored in both the US and Canada, with only 74 whales. As oxen brown tubers decrease due to human activity, which disrupts the seabed and more frequent heat waves caused by climate changes, the general ecosystem deteriorates.
Skaters ‘forests are also a critical habitat for juvenile chinook salmon kindergartens, the main part of the killers’ whale diet, said Giles. The southern population has spent less and less time in the Salish sea over the years, perhaps because of the decreasing prey, said Monika Wieland Shields, Cofounder, and the director of the Non -profit Institute of Orc’s behavior.
“This study makes me wonder if one of the reasons why Southern residents are periodically visiting Salish Sea, even in the small abundance of salmon, is to get involved in the Alllock,” Shields wrote in an email to CNN.
The study now determines new fields of study.
“This cetacean data point is really important because it is brand new,” said Dora Biro, an animal cognitive researcher at the University of Rochester, who was not related to the study.
Biro, which mostly studied tools for the tools in wild chimpanzees, added that the use of terrestrial tools is much more common than in the water environment. She is now working with the Weiss team’s grant offer to better understand the purpose of behavior.
However, brakes do not necessarily need to be a goal: “The goal can be just a social connection, and it would still make it a tool.”
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