Killer Whales Fashion Tools from Kelp and Use Them for Grooming
Jun 30, 2025 by News Staff
In a paper published this month in the journal Current Biology, marine researchers report evidence of the widespread manufacture and use of grooming tools in a population of killer whales (Orcinus orca ater) living in the Salish Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean between British Columbia and Washington.
Allokelping in southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca ater). Image credit: Weiss et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.021.
“We found that southern resident killer whales regularly use lengths of bull kelp during social interactions, apparently as a tool to groom one another,” said Dr. Michael Weis, a researcher at the Center for Whale Research.
“To find that the whales were not just using but also manufacturing tools, and that these objects were being used in a way never before reported in marine mammals, was incredibly exciting.”
Dr. Weiss and his colleagues discovered this unexpected whale activity while conducting aerial observations of southern resident killer whales, which are a critically endangered whale population with fewer than 80 individuals left found in the Pacific Northwest.
They have been monitoring the whales since 2018 to learn more about their foraging and social behavior.
“While there are other killer whales around the world, the southern residents represent a genetically, ecologically, and culturally distinct population,” Dr. Weiss said.
More:
https://www.sci.news/biology/killer-whales-kelp-grooming-tools-14029.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
