Have you ever considered sharing your lunch with an orca? Because a new study suggests they thought about sharing their meals with you.
The study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, identifies 34 cases in which orcas attempted to share their prey with humans either in boats, in the water, or on shore.
“There appears to be a prosocial element to these cases, indicative of interspecific generalized reciprocity, which is extremely unusual to witness in any non-human animal, and is suggestive of evolutionary convergence between orcas and people,” said lead study author Jared Towers in a press release from Bay Cetology.
Orca with stingray (Left Image Courtesy of Lucia Corral, Right Image Courtesy of Leonardo Gonzalez)
Lucia Corral, Right Image Courtesy of Leonardo Gonzalez
According to the study, in 97 percent of the observations, as the orcas approached the humans, they dropped the presented prey and waited for the ...
