Latest news with #CenterForWhaleResearch
Yahoo
21 hours ago
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Killer whales seen grooming each other
A discovery of unique killer whale behavior may be the first documented time a marine species has been seen using and creating tools for something not food-related. The finding was made in Washington by the Center for Whale Research, and it wouldn't have happened without the diligence of researchers. 'It was almost like puzzle pieces coming together because we started noticing with the great drone camera, but we were unsure if it was something new, a one-off or two-off situation, if it's just something weird they're doing, they do weird things all the time,' said Rachel John, a researcher with the Center for Whale Research. Over several periods between April and July 2024, researchers such as John, Dr. Michael Weiss, and others watched as a whale would cut a piece of kelp loose, pin it on another Orca, then rotate its body to roll the kelp on the other whale. In some instances, the other Orca would return the favor. 'This is a major part of their social lives… we are now seeing this behavior more times than we are not,' Weiss said. The team has dubbed the behavior 'allogrooming,' and while they haven't been able to definitively show the purpose, they theorize the whales use kelp to care for each other's skin. 'We have found some evidence that whales with more dead skin are more likely to engage in this behavior, but we also need to see if they engage in this behavior enough, and whether they start to effectively remove dead skin,' Weiss said. 'It's also a case of tool manufacturing or tool fashioning. Both of those things are quite rare in animals generally and particularly rare in marine mammals.' It's the first documented case of tool use and tool creation by a marine species, according to the Center for Whale Research. CWR also says it could also potentially be the first occurrence in which a tool is created by an animal that benefits two animals at the same time, and the first use of a tool by an animal using their body, rather than an appendage. 'It's quite remarkable the way they managed to manipulate this kelp. It requires coordination between the two whales,' Weiss said. 'Their ability to coordinate their movements, to sense where the kelp is, and to have, not hand-eye coordination, but the physical ability to move their bodies the way they need to is really impressive.' The discovery was made thanks to new drones the Center acquired after a grant from the Rose Foundation. Weiss and his team are continuing to look into the behavior as they study other aspects of killer whales as well. So far, Weiss says it's almost certainly a learned behavior that is distinct in the J, K, and L pods that make up the Southern Resident Orcas. The transient Biggs Killer Whales that migrate through the Puget Sound and Salish Sea do not exhibit the same behavior, despite cutting kelp free and moving through bull kelp forests. 'We also want to look over time to see if whales who do this behavior together are more likely to then show other kind of cooperative behaviors, like hunting together and sharing food and other forms of social interaction to really demonstrate more clearly whether or not this behavior helps build social bonds,' Weiss said. The Center for Whale Research is a non-profit organization predominantly supported by public donations. For more information, you can visit their website.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Science
- CTV News
Killer whales use seaweed as tools to groom each other
A baby orca named L125, swims with its mother, L86, in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research Killer whales are known for exceptional intelligence, displaying complex social structures and sophisticated communication. New research provides fresh evidence for this, documenting how these marine mammals use stalks of seaweed as tools to groom each other - as in, 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.' Using drones to observe a population of killer whales in the Salish Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean between Washington state and British Columbia, researchers noticed that these predators engaged in a behaviour they named 'allokelping,' one of the few known examples of tool use by marine mammals. The killer whales find large stalks of a type of seaweed called bull kelp, either attached to the seabed or floating at the surface. They then bite off the end of the stalk, position it between themselves and another killer whale and roll the kelp between their bodies. The researchers hypothesize that the behavior promotes skin health while strengthening social bonds. Other populations of killer whales have been observed rubbing their bodies on smooth stone beaches, possibly to remove dead skin. 'Most examples of tool use in animals involve solving ecological problems, such as gaining access to food. For example, chimpanzees use sticks to fish for termites. What's remarkable about this discovery is that the tool - the kelp - is used not to obtain food but to facilitate social interaction,' said marine biologist Darren Croft of the University of Exeter in England, co-author of the study published this week in the journal Current Biology. 'This kind of socially motivated tool use is extremely rare in non-human animals and has previously only been observed in a small number of primates, usually in captivity,' added Croft, executive director of the Center for Whale Research, a scientific organization based in Washington state that has studied this population of killer whales since the 1970s. The researchers documented the behavior among both male and female killer whales of all ages. It likely plays an important role in their social lives, Croft said. There are some other examples of tool use among marine mammals. Sea otters use rocks and other hard objects to crack open shells to get at the meat inside. And certain dolphins use marine sponges to protect their snouts and stir up the seabed while foraging. The researchers said the behaviour by the killer whales goes one step further because they modify an object for use as a tool. 'While this is not the first documented case of cetacean or marine mammal tool use, it is - as far as we know - the first case of cetacean tool manufacturing with tool use. The whales are not just finding perfect lengths of kelp in the environment, but rather actively modifying larger intact stalks of kelp to create the pieces they are using for allokelping,' said study co-author Rachel John, a University of Exeter graduate student studying killer whale behaviour. 'Another key part of what makes this behaviour so unique is the fact that they are manipulating the kelp cooperatively with a partner without the use of hands or any hand-like appendages. They use their mouth to position the kelp initially, but after that they only use the momentum and pressure of the core of their bodies to maintain contact with each other and the kelp between them,' John added. The behaviour is known only among this killer whale population. 'We found that individuals with more visible peeling skin were more likely to engage in allokelping, suggesting that the behavior may serve a skin-care function. Brown seaweeds like kelp are known to have antibacterial properties, so it's plausible that rubbing with kelp helps improve skin health,' Croft said. 'Second, we think this behavior likely plays a role in maintaining social bonds. Physical contact is known to be important for social cohesion in many species, including humans. Just as we might hug a friend we haven't seen in a while, it's possible that allokelping serves to reinforce social relationships among whales,' Croft added. This kelp grows in cold and nutrient-rich coastal and intertidal waters and thrives off the western coast of North America, which includes the home range of these killer whales. This population is at grave risk of extinction, Croft said, with only 73 individuals counted in the latest census. They are highly specialized salmon hunters, particularly reliant on Chinook salmon. As salmon populations have declined, in part due to dam-building on spawning rivers, the whales have struggled to find enough food. 'In short, they are starving,' Croft said. By Will Dunham (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Orcas may be able to make and use tools, with a little kelp from their friends
New research shows southern resident killer whales grooming each other using kelp they've modified, and researchers think it's the first time researchers have documented marine mammals making tools. The research, which was published Monday in the journal Current Biology, documents about 30 instances in which whales rolled stalks of kelp against one another, peeling away dead skin. They also documented the whales acquiring stipes of kelp and using their teeth to shorten kelp and fashion it into a proper shape for the grooming behavior. 'They're not just finding objects in the environment and using them as a tool. They're finding objects, modifying objects and using them as a tool,' said Michael Weiss, an author of the study who is a research director at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington. It's the first time whales have been documented making and modifying tools, though humpback whales have been seen making air bubbles to trap krill and fish during hunts. The researchers think the behavior is common among southern resident orcas, a population that frequents waters off Washington state. The behavior seems to be more frequent in whales that are genetically related and could help them with hygiene, but also to bond as a social group, which is common in other mammal species. 'It matches well with grooming in other species of animals like apes and ungulates,' Weiss said. 'They'll groom and preen each other as a primary way of maintaining special relationships.' Deborah Giles, a killer whale scientist with the SeaDoc Society, a nonprofit marine science organization, said she was not surprised that the animals are capable of such a complex task. 'They're incredibly smart animals. The morphology of their brain shows us their capacity for social learning, language, and memory and emotion,' she said. 'This is another cultural thing they engage in. They learned it from family members and it probably serves multiple purposes — skin sloughing and solidifying social bonds.' Southern resident killer whales are a critically endangered population protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Their current population is about 73. The animals are social and live in close-knit family groups led by mothers and grandmothers. The whales are given tracking numbers by the Center for Whale Research and are closely observed by researchers, photographers and whale watchers — particularly when they're near communities along Puget Sound, like Seattle. 'I would venture to say it's the most well-studied population of whales on the planet regardless of species, because it's been going on for 50 years,' Giles said. How, then, did this stunning behavior escape researchers' notice for decades? They didn't have the right perspective. 'It's a really cryptic behavior. It's happening almost entirely underwater and it's a piece of kelp wedged between two animals that's only about 2 feet long,' Weiss said. More recently, researchers have started using drones to document the whales from an aerial perspective. As drone technology has improved, so has the data they've collected. 'What's really changed for us in the 2024 field season — we got a new drone,' Weiss said, noting that it provided higher-resolution video. He said the researchers first noticed a whale pushing kelp against another whale in April and then observed whales rubbing against each other for about 15 minutes. Once the researchers noticed the strange behavior, they began to see it more often. 'We started seeing it a lot — to the point now where most days we fly the drone, we do see at least one pair of whales doing this behavior,' Weiss said. The researchers suspect the behavior has been happening all along. 'We didn't have the right vantage. I do believe this is something that's probably been happening since time immemorial,' Giles said. 'I think we've just scratched the surface of understanding these animals, partly because of technology.' The southern residents have been in the spotlight of conservation efforts for decades. The whales are facing a number of threats, including declining quantity and quality of prey, toxic pollution and disturbance from vessel noise, according to the Marine Mammal Commission. Some research suggests the southern residents are on a path toward extinction, if more aggressive measures aren't taken. Weiss said the new findings offer yet another reason why it's important to take care of the species. 'Discovering something like this, late in the game for how long we've studied them, says there's a lot more to learn and they need to be around to learn those things,' he said. 'This is not just a collection of 73 whales … It's a unique culture and also a society. These are whales with a set of traditions that go back thousands of years.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
West Coast killer whale species spotted grooming each other with kelp
Scientists have spotted a subset of killer whales using seaweed to scratch each other's backs, marking the first known identification of 'tool' usage by marine mammals. The 'southern resident' killer whales, whose behaviors are the focus of a new study, have been biting off the ends of kelp stalks, positioning the fragments between themselves and a partner and then rolling the kelp between their bodies for prolonged periods. The study authors identified the practice via drone footage of these orcas, publishing the findings on Monday in Current Biology. This small community of black-and-white mammals inhabits the Salish Sea, located in the inland Pacific Ocean waters between the state of Washington of British Columbia. 'What I find remarkable about this behavior is just how widespread it is in the population,' lead author Michael Weiss, of the Washington-based Center for Whale Research, said in a statement. Weiss and his team discovered the unexpected behaviors while conducting aerial surveillance of these whales, which are members of a critically endangered population of just 73 individuals. The researchers said they have been monitoring the whales since 2018 to better understand their social and foraging behaviors. 'While there are other killer whales around the world, the southern residents represent a genetically, ecologically, and culturally distinct population,' said Weiss, who is also affiliated with the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter in the U.K. Via high-resolution footage collected by their drones, Weiss and his colleagues saw that the whales were creating tools by breaking off the ends of bull kelp stalks. They observed that whales across all social groups, both sexes and age classes then participated in the grooming behaviors — although they did so with closely related whales or similarly aged partners. The scientists also observed that those whales with more molting or dead skin were likelier to engage in grooming, suggesting a potential hygienic role, according to the study. 'Bull kelp stalk is firm but flexible, like a filled garden hose, with a slippery outer surface. I suspect these features make it an ideal grooming tool,' Weiss said. They identified the practice — dubbed 'allokelping' — on eight out of the 12 days they included in their study. Weiss emphasized the element of surprise inherent in their discovery, noting that this population has been undergoing 'nearly 50 years of dedicated observation.' 'To me, this demonstrates not just the power of new observation methods but also how much we still have to learn about these animals,' he said. Co-author Rachel John, a University of Exeter master's student, made echoed these sentiments, noting that 'new discoveries can still be made' even regarding the 'best-studied orcas on the planet.' As for the possible reasons behind the allokelping behavior, senior author Darren Croft explained in a statement that 'touch is really important' among primates, as this sensation 'moderates stress and helps build relationships.' 'We know killer whales often make contact with other members of their group — touching with their bodies and fins — but using kelp like this might enhance this experience,' added Croft, a professor at the University of Exeter and the executive director of the Center for Whale Research. Other possible reasons he cited were improvements to skin health, as well as benefits from the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of brown algae like bull kelp. Hypothesizing that allokelping is 'a cultural behavior unique to southern resident killer whales,' the scientists emphasized the importance of protecting these endangered mammals. Weiss stressed that the outlook for southern resident killer whales is 'very bleak,' as the current birth rate is insufficient to sustain the population long-term. This decline is in part due to their struggle to find enough fatty Chinook salmon that they require for their survival. 'If we lose them, we lose so much more than 73 individual animals or a genetic lineage,' Weiss said. 'We lose a complex society and a deep, unique set of cultural traditions.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Orcas' Social Skin-Care Routine Uses Kelp as a Tool
Step aside, primates and crows. Thanks to new drone footage, killer whales have joined an exclusive club: the short list of animals that make and use tools. Scientists have discovered that southern resident killer whales—an extended family of orcas that live off the coast of the Pacific Northwest in the Salish Sea —incorporate seaweed into a social grooming technique, according to a paper published on Monday in Current Biology. Through footage from a drone more than 100 feet in the sky, the researchers watched orcas yank out sections of the stem of bull kelp, a giant seaweed that forms vast underwater forests in coastal waters. The texture of this stem, called a stipe, is firm but springy—kind of like a foam roller, says Michael Weiss, a study coauthor and behavioral ecologist at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Wash. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] To start a kelp-based grooming session, an orca places the bull kelp stipe on its face and nuzzles against another killer whale—often a close family member or age-mate—like an affectionate cat. The two keep the kelp pressed between their bodies as they wiggle against each other for up to 12 minutes at a time. At first, the researchers thought this might be a form of play. There's a longstanding cetacean fad called 'kelping,' in which orcas and other whales drape leafy kelp fronds on their fins and forehead. And killer whale youngsters are fond of playing kelp keep-away. But what the southern residents are doing with the kelp stipes is neither fashion nor game, the scientists say; all ages participate, from calves to the stodgiest matriarchs, and there's some evidence that orcas with flakier skin do it more. The observations are 'convincing evidence of tool use' in orcas, says Janet Mann, a behavioral ecologist at Georgetown University, who studies tool use in wild bottlenose dolphins and wasn't involved in the new paper. She has spent decades following a group of dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, that use sea sponges to protect their beak from stingers and pointy rocks as they snuffle along the seafloor to forage for food. Overall, Mann says, researchers have seen fewer examples of tool use in aquatic environments than on land. One likely reason for this is that marine animals are streamlined for swimming, meaning their appendages typically aren't great for grasping tools. (Notable exceptions include sea otters, who deftly juggle rocks with specially adapted paws, and octopuses, who use their many arms to chuck rocks at fishes that irk them.) It's also simply harder for researchers to see underwater behaviors. It's challenging to spot the noodlelike kelp stem sandwiched between two squirming, 20-foot orcas even with the team's 4K drone footage—'let alone if you're on a boat looking at the surface, just seeing fins and backs coming up,' Weiss says. 'Then it's impossible.' But why do the orcas participate in the kelp massage at all? 'They're spending a lot of time' at it, Weiss says. 'It clearly takes skill and coordination.' Ocean-dwelling cetaceans including whales and dolphins have to take skin care seriously. Their skin, while very thick, is sensitive and vulnerable to infection and parasites, Mann explains. Cetaceans' molting cycle may even be a driving force behind cold-water whales' annual migrations toward the equator; it's easier to shed skin in warmer waters, previous research has suggested. Some cetaceans find ways to help the shedding process by rubbing on coral or rocks. Weiss and his team suspect the orcas' kelp massages may have an exfoliating effect, but further study will be needed to demonstrate that it actually improves skin health. (Think 'before-and-after' shots in advertisements for your favorite face scrub.) Mann suggests other properties of the kelp could be in play, too—seaweeds are a popular ingredient in human cosmetics and could theoretically help soothe the itch of molting or somehow discourage infection or parasites. Ultimately, the kelp massages may just feel good to the orcas. In many species, 'the main function of grooming is to help build and maintain social relationships,' Weiss says. In 2024 the researchers filmed Shachi, a then 45-year-old killer whale, sharing a kelp massage with her nine-year-old grandson, Nova. Just a few days later, Tsuchi, a 29-year-old female, was spotted using kelp to groom her five-year-old daughter, Tofino. 'Sometimes, that can be more important than any kind of hygienic benefit.' Weiss and Mann agree that the finding underscores how aerial drones have changed the game for marine researchers. Scientists have been studying the southern resident pods for nearly 50 years—but it wasn't until Weiss's team got hold of a new drone with a more powerful zoom function that they discovered the kelp-massaging behavior. They captured it on video on the very first day they flew the new drone, Weiss says. 'It tells me there's a lot more stuff like this out there to be found—in killer whales and in other cetaceans,' he says.
