The orcas - also called murderous whales - sometimes offer to share their prey with humans. An investigation published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology confirms it. Researchers from Canada, New Zealand and Mexico documented 34 interactions. Orcas share food with humans. Isn't it surprising? The study was done over two decades. The incidents occurred in oceans from all over the world, from California to New Zealand, Norway and Patagonia.
Forging relationships
«Orcs usually share food from each other. It is a prosocial activity and a way of forging relationships between them, ”said the main author of the study, Jared Towers. "Food sharing with humans could indicate their interest in relating to us."
Towers and their colleagues collected and analyzed information on 34 food exchange incidents. They are incidents that they and other people had experienced. On 11 occasions, people were in the water when the orcs approached. In 21 cases, they were in boats and in two cases, on the shore. Some were recorded on video and photos. Others were described in interviews with researchers.
To be included in the analysis, the incidents had to meet strict criteria. In each case, the orcs had to have approached people alone. And they had to have dropped the object in front of them. In all cases, except one, the ORCAS Waited to see what happened after making the offering. In seven cases they tried more than once offering food, after people initially rejected it.
Acute intelligence
Domestic animals such as dogs and cats sometimes offer food to humans. But this research marks the first similar behavior in unpublished animals. This makes sense, according to researchers. Orcas are intelligent and social animals that share food to forge relationships with their relatives and with unrelated individuals. In addition, they usually hunt prey much larger than them, so sometimes they have food left over.
«Why offer food to humans? It would offer opportunities for orcs to practice cultural behaviors learned, explore or play. In doing so they learn about us, manipulate or develop relationships with us, ”wrote the researchers. «The advanced cognitive abilities and the social and cooperative nature of this species are known. We assume that any or all these explanations and results of such behavior are possible ».
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