Sharing Is Caring 

Orcas have been spotted sharing their prey with humans. While they haven’t exactly confirmed it, researchers believe that it is their way of building relationships with people.  

“Orcas often share food with each other – it’s a prosocial activity and a way that they build relationships with each other,” said lead study author Jared Towers in a statement. “That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.” 

Moreover, orcas often hunt large prey that can result in leftovers to share. 

This behavior has been observed in many oceans, ranging from California to New Zealand, Norway, and Patagonia. 

In a new study, scientists from Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico considered 34 documented episodes spanning two decades where orcas, also known as killer whales, offered their food to humans. 

To select what incidents to analyze in the study, the researchers established some criteria: The orcas needed to approach humans on their own, and not vice versa, and they needed to drop the hunted prey in front of the people they approached. 

On 11 instances, orcas approached humans who were already in the water, while in 21 other cases, they neared people on boats. In the two other examples observed, killer whales brought food to people on the shore. 

In every case but one, the whales waited to see the humans’ reaction after they offered their prey. In seven instances, they even tried to offer the food more than once after the people initially refused it. 

One clip shows orcas offering an ancient murrelet bird that the researchers say they hunted and left floating in the water. People collected it but then put it back in the water, where a whale found it and brought it back to the humans. 

Domesticated animals, like cats and dogs, have long been observed occasionally offering food to humans. The events analyzed in this study, however, represent the first evidence of a similar behavior being observed in wild creatures. 

“Offering items to humans could simultaneously include opportunities for killer whales to practice learned cultural behavior, explore, or play and in so doing learn about, manipulate, or develop relationships with us,” the researchers wrote. “Given the advanced cognitive abilities and social, cooperative nature of this species, we assume that any or all of these explanations for, and outcomes of such behavior are possible.”