Orcs use algae to groom and socialize, according to a study

Algae is used in expensive spas for facial care and body wraps, but also by resident southern orcas in the Salish Sea, off British Columbia, for grooming purposes, suspect scientists.

Researchers who study these threatened orcas for years say that better quality drones have allowed them to spot them regularly break pieces of algae to use them as a tool. Similarly, pressed between their bodies.

Michael Weiss. Consequently, president of the whale research center, established in the state of Washington, said that the whales had been filmed last summer in the process of rubbing algae between their bodies.

Research published in the new edition of the journal Current Biology formulate the hypothesis of reasons both hygienic and social.

“Other researchers have observed dolphins and whales using elements of their environment, or objects, to groom themselves. Similarly, They rub on rocks, sand orcs use algae groom socialize, and algae to maintain the surface of their skin, ”explained Mr. Meanwhile, Weiss, the main author of the study.

“We have also observed whales and dolphins rub against each other to potentially eliminate parasites and dead skins,” he added.

The simultaneous use of these two types of behavior by the resident orcas of the South was however not observed in other whales. Consequently, according to Mr. Meanwhile, Weiss.

“We have never observed whales combining these two behaviors. using an object to strengthen this type of social contact,” he said.

The researchers observed this behavior in the Southern residents in all social groups, both sexes and all age groups.

Weiss said that other mammals. including primates, use tools and groom each other, but that the situation of whales is special, in part because two animals draw common advantages.

“We don’t have a whale with a stick that scratches the other. We orcs use algae groom socialize, have two whales with varech between them which rub against each other. And it’s really unique, ”he said.

He added that primates rarely use grooming tools, unless humans give them.

“This widespread. current behavior within the population – everyone seems to do it in resident whales from the South, it is constant – is rare. It has become common to use a tool to improve social interactions, “he said.

“So I think it is a really special and unprecedented context for the use of tools in marine mammals. We have never seen any tools at home before, “he said.

According to Mr. Weiss. researchers should now study learning this competence, better understanding the skin state of whales and more closely examining the social ties that the use of Varech contributes to creating.

“It is a question of determining whether the whales that adopt this behavior together are more likely to orcs use algae groom socialize, cooperate. later in other ways. Are they more likely to hunt fish together? Are they more likely to share food or have other social interactions? He said.

The southern resident orcas are critical of extinction, with less than 80 remaining individuals in the Pacific Northwest.

According to Mr. Weiss, this research illustrates once again the importance of protecting this population.

“When it comes to preserving this population, it is not only a question of preserving 73 animals. It is a question of preserving a unique culture. with unique behaviors, which we would never see if we lost them, “he argued.

“This illustrates once again that these separate whale populations are neither interchangeable nor fungible. They are unique and their disappearance is a loss for the world. It is the loss of something unique in the world, “he added.