Ponder.cat
  • Communities
  • heart
  • search
    • Login
    • Sign Up
    • Communities

    • heart
      Support Lemmy
    • search
      Search

    • Login
    • Sign Up
    cm0002@lemmy.cafe to Science@mander.xyzEnglish · 3 days ago

    Why do killer whales keep handing us fish? Scientists unpack the mystery

    www.sciencedaily.com

    external-link
    message-square
    13
    fedilink
    52
    external-link

    Why do killer whales keep handing us fish? Scientists unpack the mystery

    www.sciencedaily.com

    cm0002@lemmy.cafe to Science@mander.xyzEnglish · 3 days ago
    message-square
    13
    fedilink
    Wild orcas across four continents have repeatedly floated fish and other prey to astonished swimmers and boaters, hinting that the ocean’s top predator likes to make friends. Researchers cataloged 34 such gifts over 20 years, noting the whales often lingered expectantly—and sometimes tried again—after humans declined their offerings, suggesting a curious, relationship-building motive.
    alert-triangle
    You must log in or register to comment.
    • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      3 days ago

      “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. “Giving the advanced cognitive abilities and social, cooperative nature of this species, we assume that any or all these explanations for, and outcomes of such behavior are possible.”

      • Broadfern@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        3 days ago

        So…they’re researching us?

        • murmurations@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          3 days ago

          After humans have been genociding them and jamming their frequencies, their instinct in research is to gift humans food

      • catty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        3 days ago

        The wolves of the seas. Ten thousand years from now, everyone will have a pet killer whale.

        • Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          3 days ago

          That’s ridiculous. We won’t have oceans that far in the future.

    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      3 days ago

      The only time orcas see humans is when we’re flailing practically helplessly in the water—they’re probably trying to save us from extinction.

    • Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      Has anyone tried playing fetch?

    • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      probably bait to lure more humans into the water 😆

    • SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      They’re paying tribute

    • catty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      3 days ago

      I think it could actually be more like the “horse’s head in the bed” warning from the God Father.

    • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      Game recognizes game.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 days ago

      Whales and dolphins have speech, too.

      • 🇦🇺𝕄𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕔𝕠𝕕𝕚𝕝𝕖@hilariouschaos.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 days ago

        We absolutely should be working harder on building a translation imo

    Science@mander.xyz

    science@mander.xyz

    Subscribe from Remote Instance

    Create a post
    You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !science@mander.xyz

    General discussions about “science” itself

    Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

    https://lemmy.ml/c/science

    https://beehaw.org/c/science

    Visibility: Public
    globe

    This community can be federated to other instances and be posted/commented in by their users.

    • 44 users / day
    • 406 users / week
    • 1.46K users / month
    • 4.84K users / 6 months
    • 2 local subscribers
    • 4.83K subscribers
    • 661 Posts
    • 1.92K Comments
    • Modlog
    • mods:
    • Salamander@mander.xyz
    • fossilesque@mander.xyz
    • UI: unknown version
    • BE: 0.19.8
    • Modlog
    • Instances
    • Docs
    • Code
    • join-lemmy.org