Orcas Spotted Hanging Out With Pilot Whale Calves – What’s Going On?

Orcas Spotted Hanging Out With Pilot Whale Calves – What’s Going On?

Are they playing, eating, or nurturing a juvenile of a different species?

Orcas spotted hanging out with baby pilot whales

An unusual encounter with a group of orcas near Iceland led researchers to discover a new and complex behaviour – the orcas had taken in baby pilot whales, and not necessarily to eat them. Scientists watched two encounters between the orcas and several weeks-old baby pilot whales in 2022 and 2023. They examined an earlier case in 2021 to come up with three possible reasons for the unusual behaviour. Firstly, it could have been predatory behaviou…

Researchers are puzzled about sword whales off Iceland: For hours, the Orcas were observed in the company of newborn pilot whales.But what is behind it?It was a strange picture: In the summer of 2023, researchers on the south coast of Iceland observed a previously unknown behaviour – a group of sword whales, known for their complex social structures and diverse hunting strategies, travelled through the sea for hours with a newborn pilot whale ca…