Скачать или смотреть A Lone Orca Was Taken In By White-Sided Dolphins

Old Thom is the only orca regularly seen in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine, and he has NEVER been seen with another killer whale. Even more unusual is that he’s usually seen with a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This phenomenon is called a “Mix Species Group” which is when different species “interact in close spatial proximity due to a mutual attraction derived from evolutionary grouping benefits.” Mutual attraction is the key distinction. Mixed species groups are not random encounters or gatherings around a shared resource. One of the most intriguing aspects of mixed species groups. When an individual adopts the “culture” of another species. A 2001 study by the University of British Columbia found that “the complex and stable vocal and behavioral culture of killer whales appears to have no parallel outside humans, and represents an independent evolution of cultural facilities.” Studies have also shown that killer whales can engage in cross-species vocalizations and they can “shift the types of sounds they make to more closely match their social partners.” A CBC article quotes a Quebec based researcher saying “Old Thom is one of the few animals on the planet to decipher dolphin language through their use of frequency vocalization.”

Mixed-species social behaviors may also be driven by a lack of conspecifics.” This is best witnessed in Mediterranean common dolphins, whose populations have plummeted since the 1980s. As a result, the occurrence of mixed species groupings have skyrocketed. Essentially, the lack of opportunities to socialize with other common dolphins has led them to seek out other cetacean species. Specifically, striped dolphins. It’s possible that the lack of other orcas has led Old Thom to seek out another species.