Drone footage captured a distinct population of orcas in the Northeast Pacific’s Salish Sea doing something never witnessed before in marine mammals: using a tool for grooming.
Michael Weiss, research director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, spotted the Southern Resident killer whales detaching strands of bull kelp from the seafloor and grooming each other with it in a practice dubbed “allokelping.”
These kelp “combs,” which the orcas rubbed on each other for up to 15 minutes at a time, could serve two purposes: exfoliating dead skin and deepening social bonds.
Discoveries
Catch up on these fascinating stories:
— “Super coral,” which are naturally more resilient to environmental changes, could be the key to saving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Conservation scientists have already found dozens of these hardy species growing in a hot, acidic habitat.
— Routine dredging of a river in the Netherlands turned up an incredibly well-preserved, nearly 1,000-year-old sword decorated with spiritual symbols.
— Fossils unearthed in Colorado belong to a previously unknown dinosaur species about the size of a Labrador retriever that has long hind legs built for speedy running.
— Scientists say they have identified Earth’s oldest rocks in Quebec. The outcrop reveals details of an unknown chapter in our planet’s history.
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