{"id":29015,"date":"2025-07-01T05:14:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T05:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/29015\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T05:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T05:14:17","slug":"these-werent-mistakes-orcas-documented-sharing-their-food-with-humans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/29015\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018These weren\u2019t mistakes\u2019: Orcas documented sharing their food with humans"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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The encounters he describes as \u201crare\u201d and awe-inspiring have led to a new study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Comparative Psychology, detailing researchers\u2019 experiences with killer whales apparently sharing their food with humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a long history of interacting with other animals, trying to feed them and gauging their responses. But it\u2019s very rare for any wild predator to do the same to us,\u201d says Towers, who is the executive director of the research group Bay Cetology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really the first report of any kind in the literature documenting these cases for killer whales.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Towers says he and his colleagues were cruising along when an orca appeared, setting off the second encounter in 2018. They stopped and watched it swim around before it reappeared and released a freshly killed seal next to the boat.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe could have dropped it off the stern or the bow, but she dropped it right in the middle of the vessel, right next to us,\u201d says Towers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just sat there watching this thing sink down into the water for about 10 or 15 seconds until she did a bit of a circle and came back and picked it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

It followed an encounter in 2015 that involved an orca opening its mouth and releasing a dead ancient murrelet, a kind of seabird, directly beside Towers\u2019 boat. He says that orca also left its prey floating for a few moments before taking it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt left us a bit awestruck,\u201d says Towers, adding the two cases stand out among the thousands of encounters with killer whales he\u2019s had around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to think about these animals a bit differently at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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The researchers wanted to ensure the study only examined cases where whales were \u201cgoing out of their way to engage with people rather than vice versa,\u201d says Towers, who is based in Alert Bay, B.C., off northeastern Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n

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In order to be included in the study, the whales had to approach humans directly. Researchers considered cases where people had not approached the whales at a distance closer than 50 metres in the five minutes prior to the interaction taking place.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese weren\u2019t mistakes. They weren\u2019t like the killer whales accidentally dropped the food. They wanted to see how people responded,\u201d Towers says.<\/p>\n

The study does not rule out any selfish motivations behind the behaviour. But Towers says he feels the apparent prey sharing is \u201caltruistic\u201d and \u201cpro-social.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharing food among relatives and other orcas is foundational for the whales, and in attempting to provision humans with prey, he says it could be an example of the whales practicing a cultural behaviour or exploring humans\u2019 capacity to respond.<\/p>\n

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