Across oceans and decades, killer whales have been caught doing something no one expected—offering food to humans.
From California to New Zealand, 34 documented incidents reveal orcas bringing fish, rays, and squid to people in the water, on boats, and even onshore. Scientists say this behavior, usually seen between whales as a bonding act, may show a surprising willingness to connect with humans. In some cases, the whales even tried more than once after being turned down, as if waiting for a response. What drives this mysterious generosity? Researchers think it could be cultural, playful—or a sign of something much deeper.
Global Instances of Orcas Gifting Food to Humans
Over a span of 20 years, scientists from Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico documented 34 surprising encounters in which wild orcas appeared to offer food to humans. These remarkable interactions happened across the globe—from the waters of California and New Zealand to Norway and Patagonia.
“Orcas often share food with each other – it’s a prosocial activity and a way that they build relationships with each other,” said study lead author Jared Towers, of Bay Cetology in British Columbia, Canada. “That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.”
The research was published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology.
The study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, brings together firsthand observations from researchers Jared Towers, Ingrid Visser, PhD (Orca Research Trust, New Zealand), and Vanessa Prigollini (Marine Education Association, Mexico).
They analyzed each case carefully, whether it came from their own experiences or from reports by others. In 11 of the encounters, the people were in the water. In 21 cases, they were on boats. In two, they were standing on the shore. Some of these moments were captured in photos and videos, while others were shared through detailed interviews.
Analyzing Two Decades of Human–Orca Food Sharing
To be included in the analysis, the incidents had to meet strict criteria: in each case, the whales had to have approached the people on their own (the people could not have approached the whales closely) and dropped the item in front of them. In all but one of the cases, the orcas waited to see what would happen after they made the offering, and in seven cases, they tried more than once to offer the food, after the people initially refused it.
Domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats, sometimes offer food to humans, but this research marks some of the first detailed descriptions of similar behavior in non-domesticated animals. It makes sense, according to the researchers, because orcas are intelligent and social animals that use food sharing as a way to build relationships with kin and unrelated individuals. They also often hunt prey much larger than themselves, and thus sometimes have food to spare.
Evolutionary Insights into Orca Prosocial Behavior
“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 of these explanations for, and outcomes of such behavior are possible.”
Reference: “Testing the Waters: Attempts by Wild Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) to Provision People (Homo sapiens)” by Jared R. Towers email the author, Ingrid N. Visser and Vanessa Prigollini, 2025, Journal of Comparative Psychology.
DOI: 10.1037/com0000422
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184 Comments
Wow. What if humans appear to be profoundly “needy,” and therefore these heretofore-unrecognizedly-intelligent species are trying to help us out?
We’re sooo hungry that we’re sweeping the seas of fish. Maybe they figure we just really need the food.
I’m a little ashamed.
No, the Orcas know all the fish they’re bringing is contaminated with microplastics and PFAS and they are hoping to kill us all off.
Maybe we need to test what they bring to us.
Aliens. have been mating with them, creating hybrids. Don’t eat the fish!
You have no intelligence, best to stay quiet!
It’s hard to say, But if humans would try to interact with them, We might learn something! They are very intelligent and they may be doing there own experiments on us! Orcas can trap Seals on ice and then lay there bodies on the edge and then the seal slides down to them! They even teach there young and it’s amazing to watch them!
I’m just waiting for someone to start spouting that we need to stop hunting and farming and buy our food at the stores where it’s made lol
Maybe they are trying to tell humans we are contaminating their food. And they want to try to get us to stop
That was my first thought ss well. The whales are giving us the contaminated food, telling us to test it, see for ourselves and stop poisoning their food.
Maybe they see fishing nets are killing other sea life that aren’t intended to get caught, so they’re bringing the fish instead
Exactly
Maybe they are trying to tell us’ look, taste it, test it and see what you’re doing to our food!
I agree. That was my first thought.
Maybe they’re just doing what they do with other whales. Occams Razor, the most obvious answer is usually the correct answer
They are drawing attention to the collapsing food chain you idiots!
Maybe these whales are giving us a warning regarding their or our food supply.
They want us as part of that food supply the same way they get sea gulls by offering fish then eating it when it takes it thats exactly what trying to do to humans as well
There are obviously thousands of speculative possibilities for their actions. People need to accept their offerings and try to interact, even try to communicate on some level.
I agree.
Maybe they want a season pass to
Sea
WORLD
All these comments and ideas are very possible. I’m not sure what it means. Maybe their trying to bait us. crap who knows. I don’t think they are violent with humans except for those yacht attacks when they were sinking yachts just recently. It’ll be very interesting if someone could figure this one out.
They’re fishing in reverse. They’ve watched us do it so much.??? 😄
I started this when one of them brought me a shark body part and I cooked it up on the grill for them! Now they hand every human they see some meat they like because they want you to cook it for them! They like that grilled flavor! So don’t just stand there! Cook it up man!
This was pretty much my first thought. Has anyone bothered to test any of these gifts? Instead of communicating, “hey, let’s be pals,” the intended message is is more likely, “stop trashing my home, a-holes.”
They are trying to befriend humans to eat them!
im a fisherman and i cant thank the orcas enough for a profitable season.
Bait
There are obviously thousands of speculative possibilities for their actions. People need to accept their offerings and try to interact, even try to communicate on some level.
They don’t like the taste because of what we have done to the waters. They are saying,” stop trashing our home!!”
And whose fault is that in the end really?
Thier senses are better then ours. Thier tring to us something. There has been a lot of animals that also have been acting funny. Kind of courageous, don’t you think?
It’s a bait, there’re “fishing”. Get close and you become Orca food.
I think they already know we taste bad, laced with smelly toxins, etc. No, it’s a test and nobody has gotten the right answer yet.
It’s a bait, they’re “fishing”. Get close and you become Orca meal.
I’ve seen lots of birds offer bait for a bigger meal. I’m sure their motives are entirely greedy, and not based on human needs at all.
I. Think this is correct. I think they are asking us to correct the contamination of their waters. HELP!
They were sent by God to destroy evil doers in the comments
They are actually trying to tell us how polluted out oceans are a and are trying to warn us. Mother nature at its finest.
😂 probably!
After everything we’ve done to destroy the oceans and the planet I’m sure they don’t trust us either with more than good reason!
It could be that they are offering tje fish to humans to check what is wrong with them in terms of ingested plastic.
I THINK MOST ALL LIVING THINGS FOLLOW A GENETIC CODE AND PROGRAM. ITS A BUILT IN SURVIVAL MECHANISM IN ALL LIVING THINGS. THE ORCA IS BEING AN ORCA.
That’s exactly it they’re saying here you eat this and tell me what’s wrong with it
Could be true. Or a famine may be eminent. Some wild animals sense danger or weather changes instinctively, who knows if this has a more significant meaning.
Respectfully disagree. Humans, particularly westerns, have forever underestimated animal and nature intellect with reductive rational such as, “animals operate on survival instincts only…. pretedermined by genetic code”. As if animals are robotic and incapable of creative thinking, adaptation, and self awareness. Very similar to the idea that acts of animal altruism are simply human misinterpretation. While yes, survival instincts are a big part of the equation in all of our behavior, science has and will continue to demonstrate that aminals are emotionally intelligent and can/do/will continue to behave with complex social strategy. Underestimating them proves our own arrogance.
And yes, im a westerner…not slinging mud from across the globe.
MAYBE THE ORCA IS A GIANT MOUSE TRAP AND THE FISH OFFERING IS THE BAIT. AGAIN THE ORCA IS FOLLOWING A BUILT IN GENETIC CODE AND PROGRAMING FOR SURVIVAL.
Or it could be that in the past orcas and other species of whales have approached humans for their help especially if they’ve got themselves tangled up in discarded fishing nets or tangled up on ropes that have floating aids on them which would prevent a whale diving if they got tangled up in one, there has been instances of this happening, and these orcas offering food to humans is their way of saying thank you
Maybe they’re trying to train us
EXACTLY, they have been exposed to reintroduced water park orcas at some point with stories about trading food for entertainment and desired behaviors and they’re just waiting for us to turn up the stereo and boogie down like Sam Rockwell on the fantail of our 67ft Searay for their amusement.
I was thinking about how intelligent whales are and that they have probably been observing our methods of large scale fishing via fish netting, and observed some of their species and others die as a result , So they may be trying to get us to stop by their offering . .
Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish 🙂
I see what you did there *shovel hits my face*
You stoles my comment
Lovely “Line” from an even Lovelier, Film
From one of the best Cult Classic, Sci-Fi, Rom Com books ever written! 👽
👍🏼HGG
don’t forget your towel
They were sent by God to destroy evil doers in the comments
Dumbest article I have ever read , and that is saying something!
that’s what I thought!
😁
The incredible, simple and honest kindnesses of the Orca. If only humans could have that quiet dignity…
I agree. I would try and befriend it. I find that to be heartwarming and less of just because they are complaining about our share of ocean pollution. All animals are created from God and they were created to be dominated with respect by humans.
Amen.
They want to play a game like a dog brings a ball or stick to you and you throw it so they can give it back to you. Let’s play fetch.
OMG THANK YOU! If you know, you know!
After reading some of these comments and the way the human race behaves, I’ll take my chances with the orcas.
Amen to this!!! I have no problem whatsoever saying that I am racist. It has nothing to do with color though. I just can’t stand the human race. 😔
I say the exact same thing. Finally, someone else who knows the TRUE definition of racism.
To quote the other guy ‘when you know – you know,’ and honey.. I know, RIGHT!?!!
It seems like the Pods attacking boats were a defensive “circling of the wagons” to defend the babies, or perhaps it was mating season and fending off potential competition. These solo orcas gifting food are probably just lonely and reaching out. They recognize we are both mammals by our behaviors, and not the fish food so prevalent in the ocean, or there would definitely be a lot more half eaten humans washing up. However, as a surfer who saw a 3ft black fin rise out of the water ( not really knowing what it was), I didn’t hang around to be mistaken as a seal. Lol
Maybe the whales are showing us that we are contaminating the fish. Do something.
… or, hear me out, they are in a strange situation of not speaking the native language and are showing us a picture of the item they need asking us if we have one / any. Like the picture books tourist can carry and point to a toilet, or to food, or to a phone, et cetera.
my cat surprised me one day by putting a toy in her empty food bowl. It was no accident. That is why I think they are trying to tell us something..The article said the whales were not satisfied when we rejected the food but with such limited communications. My best guess is they want us to notice something about their food supply: contamination, depletion, something like that. Wild animals often demonstrate a recognition that we are ‘gods’ who might help them when things get really bad (sick Panda on your doorstep kind of situations)
They were “fishing” for humans.
Interesting. As a child and even into adulthood I will sometimes see wild animals and attempt to befriend them with an offering of food. Get them to come closer. A chipmunk to take sunflower seeds from my hand or a bird. Offer deer a handful of acorns to eat from my hand. Never a harmful intent. Just curiosity and wonder, and delight if I succeeded. Then to do it again and again as long as the animal was willing.
Small fishes like to play around the whales. It has been right form ages. The whales are awesome big fish and attractive to the small fishes.
Ill wager the whales are learning to use bait on humans.
I’ll wager that you’re wrong considering a good majority were already IN the water. Further more they use echolocation and we are far from anything in their diet, we wouldn’t even meet their nutritionals needs! They would be able to tell you’re human even in a group of seals. They can see when another whale is pregnant etc. They’re trying to communicate in one of the ways they know how and honestly you guys push this stigma that just does not exist in the wild amongst wild Orcas. Mother do however take their young half the food they hunt ya know? I would like to know the gender of these whales etc.
How do humans entice wildlife out of their habitat? Offering food.
They want us in their dinner table.
They are NOT Killer Whales! They are ORCAS, grow UP!
Are the giving us signs that our? seafood is deteriorating from contamination
Hi have you read some of the stupid comments people are saying about what these lovely creatures are doing , these people who are writing the stupid comments haven’t got 2 brain cells between them,
In some ways it’s great what they are doing but we still have to be on our guard because they are still wild and we enter their territory not them entering ours, an orca can seem friendly at first but can soon turn on you, I’d certainly accept food off a whale just so as not to hurt their feelings but I’d still be quite wary of them and i would be a bit tense and on edge just in case, I’m not saying they would attack but they have been known to, or maybe these whales just give humans gifts because in the past whales have asked humans for help when they’ve been in danger and distressed themselves like getting caught up in old discarded fishing nets etc
No reason on earth to trust them
Every reason to trust Orcas, & no reason NOT to.
I have seen a video of an orca offering fish to seagulls but it was a trap.
Birds taking the fish were then snatched by the orcas as a bigger meal.
So, if an orca is offering you fish….
This has been known documented behavior since 70s if not earlier and considering there NEVER in the EXISTENCE of records has an Orca attacked a human in the wild.
We wouldn’t know if they have eaten a human or not because the human wouldn’t be around to tell us I agree they are using fish as bait most definitely they are wild animals they more than likely try it on people when they are solo because just like a bear a crowd looks meaner and may scare them away but they are baiting us to me seems like common sense.
So i dont get it. First they are attacking and sinking boats. Thats all we heard about. Now they are bringing us fish?
That’s my exact thoughts 🤔💭
Like for weeks all we hear is they are pissed off or something at fishing boats and how there’s a pod of them attacking smaller vessels.i read even somewhere that they were worried they would start training other pods or maybe it was that they did. Anyways, NOW they friendly huh… That’s SUS 😳
The young orcas were playing with the ruders of the boats just like all of nature’s offspring. That’s how they learn.
An apology?
To bait us in
They are hunting us in my opinion and try to get us to take the fish so can eat us
Orcas are not just a other animal. They are very intelligent and likely have pods on differing sides of the “human problem”. One day protestors are sinking boats. While calm heads are saying “we need to communicate to them”, whatever problem humans are causing.
Nah they smart enough to know Israel is banning food as a human right so they’re feeding people. I said wtf I said.
Have you tried not making everything about Israel for more than 5 seconds? It’ll do you some good. Nothing like having the anti-semite opinion of a 1939 Nazi in the modern day. You’re bad. And you should feel bad.
Semites include Arabs.
How was his comment antisemitic? My family is Jewish and I’ve pretty curious. I see this term thrown around like the terms fascist, racist and communist but usually it’s just name calling to belittle a persons stance.
I’m guessing u dropped out of school early. It takes five minutes of research to understand Israel has engaged in systematic genocide. Hamas has every right to protect it’s people and country
Agreed but the topic was ORCAS
Can male Orca’s be circumcised?
I read that if a rogue Orca is trying to join a pod, the members will give it a fish if he gives it back hes in. If he eats it, he failed the test and hes out.
THATS VERY INTERESTING. WE SHOULD TEST THE OFFERINGS.🍺🍺
For how many years has this happened?
And how many goofy replies
That’s hilarious. What do you think they might do? Put rat poison in the food they offer us? 😀
Goodbye, and Thanks for all the Fish!
—Douglas Adam’s, Hitchikers Guide to the GALAXY
Exactly
Maybe theres a problem with the fish were unaware of and we need to be made aware of they eat them like us they live in the ocean not us they would know before anyone else if there’s a problem. That theybshow us orblaje us is indicating they cant deal with it if it goes unanswered they will blame us and you probably don’t want an orca pod earing people.
Probably a subtle hint to stop over fishing the world’s oceans.
Maybe just making a peace treaty amongs us, like i.a. a “Trojan Horse” 🐎 to sweep as many as they can, cuz they’ve developed a taste for humans, for encarcerating their ancestors, I.a timu or shamu or whatever his name was… for certain, they see all these flamy humans protesting so they want to do the same…
That’s what came to my mind.
It’s their SAVE THE HUMANS campaign! We’ve been doing ‘Save the Whales’ for so long, they are now returning the favor! Lol
Sea creatures know when the end of the start of the beginning of the end has sprung! The fish is to be saved collected stored and preserved for an unexpected unfortunate event is going to occur.
Orrrrr they’re intelligent mammals who simply speak another language and are offering us treats because we’re their equivalent of a stray puppy?
🎯
I’d have to say I think you’re on to something and you are right.
How about drawing us closer to them by giving us food only to try to eat us themselves? They’re very intelligent and crafty.
Orcas are conducting experiments on us. They’re Trying to establish whether humans are sapient, or just mimicking the sapience we’ve observed in more evolved species.
They understand our destructive powers…”Keep you friends close & your enemies closer”…
I agree. Sounds more like they are presenting a lure to a trap rather than an offer of friendship. Humans do the same things when hunting/fishing. I think a wild orca is more likely to lure a human AS a meal rather than TO a meal.
There was no mention of if the orcas attempted to eat the humans but maybe it’s because the humans (wisely) did not enter the water or go into deep enough water for the orcas to reach them.
Surely your not serious
The article literally says 19 of the cases the humans were in the water with them!! Did you not read the entire article before discounting the research provided? There hasn’t been any wild orca attacks documented in the history of our interactions. Infact there is multiple cases of them assisting humans by gaurding them from sharks , or helping them to safety like a boat or the shore when noticing a human is drowning or struggling . The shamefully poor attempt to understand this phenomenon is entirely because like you said that is what we would do … get your facts !!!
Well a bunch of Orcas tried to hunt Herbert Ponting; they got his pony instead.
Ponting was known to produce exaggerated accounts and put himself in dangerous situations.
In any case, the orcas were almost certainly more curious about the barking dogs with him than Ponting himself. And there is nothing about the orcas getting his pony.
Besides, if they wanted to eat you, they could snatch you from the waters edge before you had a clue
The article literally said how people were in the water with them…..
This maybe a early warning for us. They have no food left in the ocean but see potentially us on land as a easy meal.
I want the person who wrote this crap to go and take the fish from the orca. Take one for the team
Yes I want to see
Maybe a human help them at one time. And they’re just trying to help back. Could be that simple. It definitely more intelligent than most of the people on this comment board.
Tell that to a seal that they go up on the beach to grab
No reason to trust them? Slap yourself, as they’re so evolved and they’ve developed the technology to come and walk on the dry lands. To hunt us for trophy. Or maybe they snatch us to eat us. Or maybe just maybe they need us for make up and to make boots and purses out of. You’re a chicken head hoe!
Those orca whales can be very loving if ppl was loving and treat them nice I say there trying to tell us something where is our scientist oh yes trump cut there funds I’d say we are in trouble and the orcas know it
No reason on earth for them to trust us!
We humans really must take notice of the other species who exist along with us, for all our sakes. The oceans comprise most of our beautiful Earth, let us be good stewards going forward. Orcas are beautiful, too.
Orcas are obviously intelligent, and aware of human activities over a large time-scale; some of which affect food source availability that they notice. Certainly they are aware of fishing practices and harvesting of the sea environment, to wit, that we humans collect fish. It makes sense that they would understand that we “want fish.” Why, if they wanted to see if we respond, wouldn’t they bring some fish to us in the way described? Perhaps this is an opening gambit in their attempt to form a communication bond with us; especially since we are actively invading deep ocean territories and creating noise disturbance with our technology. There are opportunities for investigation into intelligence here.
Thank God we finally had an intelligent comment…
Dolphins are at least as intelligent as Orcas, yet I’m not aware of them engaging in the same behavior. I would sooner trust a Dolphin’s intentions than an Orca’s.
Orcas are literally oceanic dolphins.
That’s not a gift… It’s bait! Orca’s have moved from trying to sink boat to tying to lure humans into the water so they can eat them! Silly whales!
“It’s a cookbook!!!”
Ah yes… “To Serve Man”.
Check out another similar story out of Australia. Decades ago, during the hunting of whales for baleen & oil, a particular orca would drive whales into a particular bay for the benefit of human whalers. The story I read years ago suggested that the orca would scream and splash to attract the attention of the humans in the night. One of the orcas was memorialized with a monument when he died. The orca benefited by being given the whale liver and not having to kill the, much bigger, whale himself.
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2012/05/return-of-the-killer-whales-of-eden-nsw/
This is our first warnings signs
If WE Could Stop For a Moment, REALIZE and ACKNOWLEDGE That WE Are NOT The Only INTELLIGENT Species on This Planet, or In The UNIVERSE, For That Matter, We Would Be Able to CLEARLY See The TRUTH. They Are HIGHLY Intelligent, and Are Indeed Trying to Communicate, Seeking RESPECT, and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Didn’t WE Do That Same Thing, When Settlers Came to America, From Europe?
If you read the article, it said they also gave items to people IN the water. So if it intended to hurt or eat them, it could easily have done so, but didn’t.
Reminds me of an episode of the Twilight Zone
Anyone think it’s possible that since there is alot of seismic activity and volcanic eruption, maybe they are asking to be saved so? Maybe water temp is about to become boiling? And maybe they want to be not cooked alive? Move em to Sea world …..lol no seriously it’s possible and if not that then maybe they are like “here please stop stealing our food we are willing to share….” I think that’s a possibility
You let them buy you dinner and they have only one thing on their mind.
They are trying to free the orcas locked in sea worlds. They see how driven we are by greed figure maybe we will respond from gifts.
Or maybe a bribe to quit polluting their home.
I thought people who put these videos up, had common sense or at least I thought that you guys were smart??? Don’t you see…. They’re trying to tell you, that there’s barely food left in the ocean for them to eat!!!! Duhh!!! Think about it, how else would they be able to tell us humans??? At one point they were holding salmon on the heads right?? I read that on Yahoo news. I know u guys know what they mean by all this! So stop acting dumb like you don’t know!!! Ridiculous! Stupid people.
This is halarious. They aren’t offering anything. They are setting a trap for the dumb person who thinks they are friendly. They maybe analyzing us the same way we analyze them. To find a weak point and exploit it . How is this even news or even scientific research lol common sense goes a long way.
Reach over while there offering food and hug them to say thanks and find out.be brave for us that don’t believe donations are friendly.
Maybe you should read and understand the actual paper before being so dismissive.
11 total encounters in the published paper were with people already in the water, and there would have been little use for setting up such “traps” for these people swimming in the water. If the orcas wanted to do anything malicious to humans in the water, they very easily could have done so already without needing to set up “bait.”
Food-sharing with other orcas is already a very common behaviour amongst many orca populations. The orcas in the studied encounters seem to generalize this type sharing behaviour, extending the behaviour towards our species. They thus seem to be exhibiting a form of cross-species generalized altruism towards humans in these scenarios.
The lead author, Jared Towers, has also stated that orcas may have theory of mind. This means that they could have the ability to detect and recognize our mental states. This also means that they may recognize that us humans also have our own perspectives and that we also may also be another highly social and intelligent lifeform.
And it’s not like humans and wild orcas have not formed amicable/cooperative relationships with each other before. One of the most famous and extensive relationships between humans and orcas was Old Tom’s pod forming a cooperative relationship with whalers in Eden, Australia. Perhaps this cooperative relationship was actually started by these orcas approaching and offering humans their food and the humans reciprocating many years ago, or vice versa. Perhaps the orcas in these encounters may be trying to start up such relationships with humans too, using their cultural practices of food-sharing.
Stop polluting their water. You guys keep throwing trash where they live. They’re begging for you to stop and clean up their living quarters
“Here, take the fish back, it’s toxic! What are you trying to do to us!”
My guess is that they’re probably offering fish because many have been harmed by fishing practices. They assume humans are in the water to fish and are trying to avoid our fishing practices by fishing for us.
The idiotic and opinionated comments that follow this article undoubtedly prove that humans are the inferior species. So whatever the orcas are trying to convey to us through their supposed offerings, too many of us are proving to be too dumb to ever comprehend. But God knows, the homo sapiens will still speculate because it’s all they can do when they’ve lost the last of their critical thinking skills. The hopelessness of humanity is never more apparent than when they speculate about another animal’s intelligence, while still assuming their own superiority. May God help us all.. 🙄🤦♂️😒
Whoooooo eeee!! Lookie here you guys!!! We gots us one of them there rocket scientists!!! Boy must be smart a sitten on o’ Dat brain power!!! Mmmhmm…. yes sir..this here is one smart fella..or missus..
Did you know that truly intelligent humans actually have terrible grammar? It’s due to the i.q we have and not caring for petty subtle English grammar. You had perfect text grammar. Stop pretending to have a high or superior intellect. Going out of your way to correctly place commas and periods as not to seem dim whitted whilst insulting others intellect in a blanket statement. Go to reddit for that. Oh and orca Whales are cool
Orcas are very intelligent, my thought is they might be trying to pass a human some food and as you comply !
Swoosh outta the water CHOMP! You die your considd the bigger fish , it’s like when you go fishing with live bait ,put the little guy on the hook toss him in the water wait and chomp bigger fish on the line now this all just a wild guess without any research. THEY CHOMP THEIR TRANIERS EVERY SO OFTEN RIGHT ?
physics is a good sarvice
It wasn’t long ago that orcas were flipping and ramming boats. I’ve just recently said that it would be a scary world if orcas took over as lead species so I’m going to make a probably unpopular opinionated statement and say they are trying to trick humans. They are highly intelligent and are even starting to mimic dolphins after seeing humans and dolphins interact. Very unusual.
All the keyboard marine biologists and scientists have it right I’d say.
“Here, eat this & not me”, is probably what they are saying.
No big whoop. Parrots and macaws try to regurgitate food into their humans’ mouths; dogs and cats bring dead things to their humans too; and like orcas sharing food with each other, humans do the same-being invited over for dinner is an example of this…all in the name of bonding. There’s been documentation of other species engaging in other “human behaviors” too, such as playing and tool making. Animals with higher intelligences probably share similar behavior traits.
This whole article and many of comments following sound fishy. Anthropomorphization is a human-only behavior.
I think we should put saddles on them and ride them. Of course with goggles and an oxygen tank. What, you think I’m stupid or something?
No, you are just thinking like a typical human being: “The only value anything, or anyone else can have is for us to exploit it to satisfy our own unnecessary craving “.
This is very curious behavior. Being large predators as well as being an extremely social intelligent species, this behavior should be carefully welcomed. If all other aspects of the qualifying interactions are benevolent and the interactions can be seen as genuine giving and sharing behavior…what a monumental opportunity we are being given to receive care and good will directly for another intelligent being. Imagine the careful and gentle movements necessary to be able to present us with a gift without harming us or sinking our boat or hurting us unintentionally on land. This behavior does not seem predatory. Being a opportunistic predator, they had the opportunity to treat us as prey but made a conscious decision to attempt to make peaceful and loving contact with an offering of food. It’s very possible individuals exhibiting this behavior may have had positive interactions with human beings over the course of their lives. It’s very possible a human, seeing a curious and friendly Orca, could have given it gifts of fish and physically affectionate touch. It’s very possible these same individuals feel compelled to interact and give gifts to other humans they encounter as gifts were given to them. These are exceptionally intelligent as well as incredibly powerful creatures. I feel they choose how to interact with everything they encounter. To choose to show tenderness in the form of a gift is profound behavior and proof of the majesty of nature and all the creatures in it
They are to be considered as intelligent as a 16 year old human. I know thats not that smart but for another species to be showing that its something that needs to be taken suriously. It would also be a great time to ask one if they can give me the location to all sunken treasures and ill in return build a fish hatchery to provide them with all the food they need. Ill get them missile defense systems so deter any other possible threat to their kindom that they get to even name themselves.
Oh no…they’re giving us the only gifts they see us taking….hoping we will stop them from dying.
Tragic. If only they understood us. They wouldn’t waste a meal. Can’t stop it now orcas…Can’t even save ourselves.
Nobody can take anything seriously. It is hilarious but at this point, the world is dissolving, especially if you live in America.
Anyway, has anyone thought they might be asking where are all the fish going?
Trying to figure out where all the food has gone. And they want help. But sadly humans are a virus who destroy everything we touch.
Idiots and Morons, the lot of ya.
I believe that this is no coincidence God made everything living.So what makes you more smarter than a animal or whale?. Common sense this is a cry for help.If I was a whale and couldn’t speak English I would give you a sign also like swimming up and spit out food to show you what I’m trying to tell you.Yhats they food and most people wouldn’t share they food or spit it out knowing they need it.So yes they are trying to tell us something and we need to test that fish and find out what is going on.
Really that’s how you feel.be realistic and you are not a mammal and you would be dead trying to ride a whale through tides of water and you might get thrown off in a bad neighborhood of sharks so you would be eaten.see your family trying to find pieces of you to have a funeral
Someone should accept the gifts then test them all for microplastics, mercury, radiation, and other toxins. They may be trying to let us know how badly we’ve poisoned them and their food. 50 Orca have washed up dead this year.
Maybe they are trying to trade. Maybe they want to trade for a gun to turn around and take over the world. I mean there is a group of people that have hunted them to near extinction levels and continue to do so,thinking its an infinite source. Heck id want to trade for that if i were them. Sure be a big surprise tossing a harpoon into the water just for bullets to come spraying back out instead of a helpless orca. Next thing they know here comes Ramborca all muscly jumping outa the water just blasting with a bowie knife clutched in his mouth and a bandana around its head that doesnt fit because hes a fricken orca.
This could be a gesture to humans to stop killing the seas. Trying to pay us off to do so.
I had a calf spy hop next to me about 10 inches from my face. We just curiously looked at each other. On our port side(I was at starboard stern), a 30 ft orca swam with a six foot dorsal right next to us with his mother. Sadly, both of them have passed away. The mother died at 103 years, and the male at 59 years. Those two were in the movie(don’t remember the name) about the orca being rescued from captivity. It was at the end of the movie with a Michael Jackson song. I studied everything I could about them. So much that in discussing the pods with the Whale center on San Juan Island, they offered me a volunteer job. I said I really didn’t know much more than what we just talked about. He informed me that I know more than most people. (Kind of surprised me.) I didn’t live on the island, so travel would have been difficult, but I would have said yes if I lived on the island.
If they wanted to play it would happen more frequently with greater tenacity, I believe areas of their minds are open in ways that few of ours are and they want us to understand we do not own this planet we belong to it and have a responsibility to protect it.
No fair! They made me swim through a maze to get my fish.
🎶So long, so long, and thanks for all the fish!🎶😁
Since large sharks and whales prefer blubber which stays in there system for far longer not to mention controlling their body temps perhaps it’s really just a gift. They see what we like to eat and that may not be their favorite for survival. It could be a gift for not hunting them like we used to or it may just be social interaction.
The gifts should be examined deeper just to make sure.
Orca were originally called “Whale Killers” as they hunted baleen whales, there was a pod of Orca off New South Wales Australia which used to help the local whalers of Eden by “herding” baleen whales into a bay where the humans would slaughter them, the Orca would eat the tongues:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)
So, offering “gifts” may be along the same lines.
In an effort to initiate relationship with humans. So that they may gain the ability through these relations to be able to gain answers to their questions and share their thoughts with us.
I’m sure our species destruction on their home and under-water-environment and thereby to them as a species is of utmost concern and at their forethought.
Such a humbling thing to notice their first line of defense is sharing and giving (acts of love) and not acts of hate (death and destruction).
My first thought is that they are asking for help, want us to see what our society is doing to their food sources (increased plastics, mercury, toxic waste, etc.).
Animals have been known to ask humans for help.
THE COMMENTS in this section are just so idotically stupid, insane and tree-huggingly SILLY, it boggles the “living mind” of any “thinking” human! I will say no more, thank you!