"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."
this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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So..they’re researching us?
After humans have been genociding them and jamming their frequencies, their instinct in research is to gift humans food
The wolves of the seas. Ten thousand years from now, everyone will have a pet killer whale.
That's ridiculous. We won't have oceans that far in the future.
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.
I think it could actually be more like the "horse's head in the bed" warning from the God Father.
Game recognizes game.
Has anyone tried playing fetch?
Whales and dolphins have speech, too.
We absolutely should be working harder on building a translation imo
probably bait to lure more humans into the water 😆
They're paying tribute