These Killer Whales Make Tools From Kelp to Massage Each Other in a Newly Discovered Grooming Behavior

These Killer Whales Make Tools From Kelp to Massage Each Other in a Newly Discovered Grooming Behavior

Dubbed "allokelping," it might be a unique cultural phenomenon that's as endangered as the orca population itself

Killer Whales Invent Kelp Spa Day — Scientists Baffled And Delighted

[Image: Facebook/@brendonbissonnette] When behavioural ecologist Michael Weiss spotted a Salish Sea orca holding a green object in its mouth, he chalked it up to typical cetacean shenanigans. “Because whales do weird things,” he shrugged. But then it happened again. And again. Turns out, these killer whales were giving each other full-body spa treatments with kelp. “I zoom in, and sure enough, there’s clear as day this piece of kelp that they’re…

Killer whales make tools to scratch each other’s backs

New Orca Behaviors Discovered -- Using Tools and Sharing Food With People

There is so much we do not understand about orcas, also known as killer whales. Scientists and sailors have been mystified in recent years by pods of orcas attacking sailboats near the Strait of Gibraltar and the Iberian Peninsula. Multiple theories have been proposed to explain the attacks that have disabled and in some cases sunk sailboats, yet there is currently no consensus to explain the behaviour. Likewise, recently, some orcas on the Nort…

Killer whales filmed grooming each other for the first time

Scientists have filmed orcas – “killer whales” with a drone, as they care for each other off the coasts of the USA and Canada by rubbing each other with seaweed. It is the first known example of a marine animal using a tool, which was thought to be done only by primates – humans and monkeys, the British newspaper Guardian ...