Why Do Killer Whales Keep Handing Us Fish? Scientists Unpack the Mystery

Science Daily reports: Wild orcas across four continents have repeatedly floated fish and other prey to astonished swimmers and boaters, hinting that the ocean's top predator likes to make friends. Researchers cataloged 34 such gifts over 20 years, noting the whales often lingered expectantly — and sometimes tried again — after humans declined their offerings, suggesting a curious, relationship-building motive...

"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 complete research was published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology. Its title? "Testing the Waters: Attempts by Wild Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) to Provision People (Homo sapiens)."

Other cases in the animal kingdom.

[meandmatt]

I always try to offer worms to Fish but they also turn me down.

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[garyisabusyguy]

You have to wonder what the killer whale wants in return...

Kinda like accepting cigarettes from strangers when you are in jail, that orca might think you're their beyatch now

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[arglebargle_xiv]

You have to wonder what the killer whale wants in return...

For you to get into the van with the blacked-out windows and obscured license plate?

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[Brain-Fu]

Your neighbors leave dead things on your stoop?

I would call the cops.

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[ndsurvivor]

Cats that I took care of did that to me. I loved them hard just the same.

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[easyTree]

I would call the cops.

Yes, the punctuation police.

KIller Whales eat people, so....

[Brain-Fu]

"It's a trap!"

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[ndsurvivor]

lol, no they don't.

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[Paradise Pete]

lol, no they don't.

Maybe they wanted to broaden their palate. Try some foreign cuisine.

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[ndsurvivor]

Trumps wife is a Foreigner, just saying. I wouldn't mind eating her.

Be better

[algaeman]

This is the best you can lust for? Aim for something actually attractive.

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[ndsurvivor]

Not bill, but maybe some Harris! lol.

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[Shades72]

Would I kick Melania Trump out of my bed, if she would end up in it for who knows what reason?

No, I wouldn't. But only if she leaves me alone to sleep. And if she doesn't, let me sleep, I will kick her out. Besides, if you can't see that the relationship between Donald and Melania is transactional at best, there is not much more to say. Prime example of a trophy wife. Look, if such a person tickles your fancy, fine, it is your life.

But if someone does not fancy Melania, he's immediately a democrat who likes

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[ndsurvivor]

*hugs* to you for being a decent person. I talk and joke a lot, but I would like to think I am a decent person too. Maybe a bit like you.

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[greytree]

No they don't.
One theory is that we are not tasty - too boney.

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[fahrbot-bot]

No they don't. One theory is that we are not tasty - too boney.

With some people, it may just be the marinade [people.com]. :-)

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[Calydor]

A few very isolated incidents from orcas in captivity. That's the same as saying dogs as a whole are dangerous because a few go insane.

Re: KIller Whales eat people, so....

[Fons_de_spons]

Couldn't it be just a bribe? Don't tell anyone you saw us.

Seems that they have empathy.

[ndsurvivor]

I think that is very cool and precious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Give fish to them

[Iamthecheese]

The point at which some environmentalism reveals itself as misanthropy is where "don't feed the animals" is commanded because it's "unnatural." This stance overlooks that humans are a part of nature, not separate from it. Barring legitimate safety concerns, like habituating bears to human sites, there is nothing inherently wrong with developing relationships, even co-dependencies and forms of partial domestication, with wild animals. Such interactions can represent a form of interspecies mutualism, a concept well-documented in biology, where different species form beneficial partnerships. History, too, offers examples of co-evolution, such as the relationship between humans and the ancestors of domestic dogs. The argument that animals "don't understand what humans are like" is paternalistic. They understand what they like and, as the orca study suggests, are capable of initiating interaction based on their own complex social logics. To deny them this agency is to deny their intelligence and autonomy. They can choose to interact or not, to the limits of their abilities; let them make that choice. This aligns with philosophical arguments for animal autonomy, which posit that sentient beings with preferences should have those preferences respected. The appeal to "naturalness" is a flawed premise in the Anthropocene, an epoch defined by human alteration of all ecosystems. There is no longer a "pure" nature to which we can defer. The insistence on a hands-off policy often stems from a puritanical, almost religious, reverence for a "Sacred" nature that must remain untouched by humanity. This view secretly frames humans as a blight, a contamination from which the world must be cordoned off. It is a philosophy of alienation, not of responsible cohabitation. The fear that a friendly whale, offering fish as a gesture of friendship, might suddenly attack boats is not just unfounded; it actively dismisses the animal's observed intent. It is a projection of human fears onto a situation that the animals themselves are defining as peaceful. This is not to ignore all risks, but to challenge a risk-averse dogma that precludes the possibility of positive, unprecedented relationships. The real debate should be about fostering a more nuanced ethic of interaction, one that respects animal agency and acknowledges our shared and entangled future on this planet, rather than one that capitulates to a deep-seated misanthropy that ultimately desires a world with fewer people in it.

The fish, it's a "trap"

[drnb]

The point at which some environmentalism reveals itself as misanthropy is where "don't feed the animals" is commanded because it's "unnatural."

Well it can result in unnatural behavior, like a lack of fear of humans, which can lead to the animal's death. This extends far beyond your bear example.

This stance overlooks that humans are a part of nature, not separate from it.

I think humans feeding other predators is more the exception not the rule. Sure we did it with wolves and ended up with dogs. But wolves accepting the gesture of friendship paid a heavy price. The alpha leaning probably ended up in the stew pot, the beta leaning more likely to be kept around. We brutally bred the wolves for submissiveness. I'd reconsider yo

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[burtosis]

But wolves accepting the gesture of friendship paid a heavy price. The alpha leaning probably ended up in the stew pot, the beta leaning more likely to be kept around. We brutally bred the wolves for submissiveness. I'd reconsider your dog example. The fish, it's a "trap". :-)

The alpha/beta thing is completely debunked. When you rip animals from their families and throw them into a cage to fight for scraps you might find more alpha and beta like behaviors but in the wild, when not treated unnaturally by humans, they form family groups. There isn’t some large male using violence to get its way with every thing and every one, that’s what happens when humans get involved. Instead they tend to be highly cooperative.

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[drnb]

But wolves accepting the gesture of friendship paid a heavy price. The alpha leaning probably ended up in the stew pot, the beta leaning more likely to be kept around. We brutally bred the wolves for submissiveness. I'd reconsider your dog example. The fish, it's a "trap". :-)

The alpha/beta thing is completely debunked.

Sorry, no. The alpha male is debunked. There are occasionally alpha females.

Wolves are strictly hierarchal. Reinforced and recognized through daily actions. From feeding order to daily submissive gestures. Some wolves will be occasionally test to see if they can improve their rank, alphas. Some will not and just accept their position, betas.

When you rip animals from their families and throw them into a cage to fight for scraps you might find more alpha and beta like behaviors but in the wild, when not treated unnaturally by humans, they form family groups.

The pack is often biological family to a large degree, with some adoptions. However the hierarchy I referred to above is referring to wolves in the wild. It is their

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[PPH]

I need one of these signs [sigosigns.com] but for the homeless.

Given enough time in their evolution

[Latent Heat]

orcas may even learn how to format a Slashdot post into paragraphs?

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[Mr. Barky]

Unfortunately, they'll likely be using Unicode for their native language. This won't work so well with Slashdot.

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[Dragonslicer]

The point at which some environmentalism reveals itself as misanthropy is where "don't feed the animals" is commanded because it's "unnatural."

Most "don't feed the animals" rules are because people tend to feed animals "unnatural" foods like processed grains and meats, which aren't safe for the animals to eat.

And no cat owner is surprised

[drnb]

And no cat owner who has received certain gifts from a cat are surprised. :-)

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[ndsurvivor]

I had a cat give me a bird almost every other day. I know that in their mind they were giving me a gift. I had to give her away to the humane society. however, wow, that is a nice gift from a cats point of view.

Re:And no cat owner is surprised

[OrangeTide]

It's a backhanded gift. Your cat thinks you're in incompetent hunter and is trying to help you because he/she feels sorry for you.

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[ndsurvivor]

after many thousands of hours holding and loving cats, I think I can safely say, that they run off of instincts. They are what they are, and we are what we are.

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[drnb]

It's a backhanded gift. Your cat thinks you're in incompetent hunter and is trying to help you because he/she feels sorry for you.

No. My cat is in total awe of my can opener skills. She's just trying to flout her independence. :-)

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[ndsurvivor]

lol... that was my "goto" if my cat was getting into something I didn't like, or blocking me from my door.. I just press on the can opener, and she would be at me feet in a few seconds. LOL. cats are so predictable!

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[easyTree]

I seem to recall reading somewhere they think we're kittens and are trying to teach us - or more likely an automatic behaviour encoded into genes building brains by evolution led to increased survival of kittens and relative increase in prevalence of those genes.

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[serviscope_minor]

possibly? Hard to determine. Maybe that's why humans like feeding animals. But ultimately the mush of evolutionary reasons end up as us simply enjoying feeding animals.

There's definitely a problem intellectually in anthropomorphising animals, but there is an equal and much more overlooked problem in assuming that animals must necessarily be different.

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[buck-yar]

I watched a bear try and open a tailgate to a truck. It was standing on two hind legs, pawing at the release mechanism. It was all scratched up (couldn't figure out how to open it).. What automatic behavior does that fall under? Trucks have only been around a hundred years or so. Maybe we underestimate intelligence of lesser life forms?

Re: And no cat owner is surprised

[Malc]

You didnâ(TM)t make it wear a collar with a bell?

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[easyTree]

I once came home to our shared house (post student years) to find the hallway about six inches deep in feathers and a dead bird - I'm not sure the bird appreciated the gesture.

Better check first

[PPH]

... and see if those fish don't have hooks in them.

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[easyTree]

Or trackers.

Concerned for our health

[OrangeTide]

They've seen the obesity epidemic in America and are concerned we eat too much red meat and carbs.
They're like: Try having a fish once in a while, fatso. Any maybe you'll stop dumping garbage in our ocean if you have to eat out of it too.

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[ndsurvivor]

me get off topic? no way, but damn if those new weight loss drugs work. I know someone who gets a shot once a month, and she lost like 40 pounds. It seems to release people from a lot of addictions to bad things. May I recommend to people who want to "Make America Great", that those shots should be offered for free to everybody in America.

If we can decode their communication...

[93 Escort Wagon]

Orca 1: What are those things? They keep showing up at inconvenient times.
Orca 2: Yeah, I was trying to make moves on Orca 3, but one of those wouldn't give us privacy! It's maddening...
Orca 1: They look pretty dumb. I wonder if they can communicate?
Orca 2: Hey, let's see if they're as dumb as they look! I've been playing with this bird carcass - I'm gonna give it to them and see what happens.

...

Orca 1: Yup, they're dumb. I saw they kept pushing it back towards you, each time you tried to give it to them. Hmm... perhaps it's some primitive form of play? Orca 4 thinks he saw a couple of them waving those scrawny limbs at each other - I wonder if that serves as some really primitive level of communication?

Douglas Adams would cheer this on

[zuki]

"So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish" suddenly makes so much more sense now.

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[ndsurvivor]

42

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[Preston Pfarner]

If allowed a[n impossible] chance to let him know, I would also try to avoid bringing the discussion to our preference for treating "Last Chance to See" more as a checklist rather than a guide for corrective actions.

And if they get tired of you

[Slashythenkilly]

They take you to the bottom of the tank for awhile.

Captive behavior is not the same as wild

[drnb]

They take you to the bottom of the tank for awhile.

I think the biologists are describing normal behavior in the wild. You are describing pissed off behavior in captivity. You'll need to find evidence of swimmers around wild orcas being held under. Most I've heard of are boat attacks. But to be honest I have not gone looking.

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[Cyberax]

There are _no_ proven attacks of orcas on humans in the wild. In one case, an orca was documented doing wild contortions to avoid hitting a human, after it started an attack run, possibly mistaking the human for a seal.

They do attack boats, though.

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[phantomfive]

It's kind of weird, tbh. Why wouldn't orcas attack humans? They don't have any problem attacking moose, or sharks.

Re:And if they get tired of you

[Growlley]

1. we smell 2. we taste bad 3, they are more intelligent than us and know we kill the entire pod in retaliation,

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[ffkom]

Or they attack and sink your boat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

The old saying

[JamesTRexx]

That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.

If you can't beat them, join them.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

[RitchCraft]

They are thanking us for all the fish before they leave this doomed planet.

They are testing us

[nospam007]

If you don't take the food, you ARE food.