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The concept of socialist orcas from South America might sound bizarre, but these killer whales that redistribute their food among the pod are very real.
While their black and white coloring is distinct and even iconic, not all orca populations are the same. Orcas can be found around the world, living in wildly different climates. Different populations will prefer different foods, communicate with distinct sounds, and display different behaviors. They have even been found to differ at the genetic level. The Chilean orcas have their own distinct behaviors. They are skilled hunters, with a taste for dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), and they share the meat from their kills among themselves, as new research shows.
Other researchers had observed the orcas feasting on sea lions and chasing dusky dolphins, though they hadn’t caught any. Beyond that, little was known about their behavior. Eager to learn the particulars of this pod’s culture, marine biologists from several Chilean universities boarded boats and launched drones; they conducted a systematic survey of the orcas in the waters of Mejillones Bay in northern Chile over the course of 2022 and 2023. To ensure they gathered as much information as possible, they also recruited fishing and whale watching boat operators to help with the observations, getting the volunteers to log the location of any orca sighting.
In the ensuing study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the scientists, led by Ana Garcia Cegarra of the Universidad de Antofagasta, documented 28 orca sightings in the area. At times, as few as one orca was seen. Other times, as many as six orcas were together, including adult males and females, juveniles, and calves. They, too, saw the orcas chasing after dusky dolphins, except this time, the killer whales were successful. On one occasion, an observer on a whale-watching boat even saw a female orca toss a dolphin into the air, before killing the smaller mammal. The process was a grisly one, as the female orca held the dolphin in its mouth, and allowed other members of the pod to rip chunks of flesh off. (If you grew up on Free Willy and this violence surprises you, you clearly haven’t been paying attention).
Collective hunting and sharing the spoils is not unique to this group of orcas, but the behavior is not universal among the species. The behavior is just one aspect of how orcas types are sorted. While some have pushed for the animals to be subdivided into entirely new species, for now they are usually divided using the term ecotype, each of which has distinct characteristics, such as size of the orcas and their pods, pattern of their white eye patches, and sharpness of the teeth. Because of their taste for dolphin, and relatively small pod sizes, Garcia Cegarra said in a statement that her team is inclined to classify the Chilean whales as Type A, or Antarctic orcas.
“We wish we could obtain skin biopsy samples to analyze their genetic data, as there is no genetic information for orcas in this region of the south-east Pacific,” she said. “However, they are very elusive and intelligent, which makes it difficult to approach them in the boat for biopsies.”
Because of their diversity, it can be difficult to determine the conservation status of orcas. All ecotypes are protected in the United States under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, yet their exact population numbers are unknown, though in 2006, it was estimated there were 50,000 of the animals in the oceans. The researchers said they hope that be gathering new information on their habits and behavior, more can be done to protect orcas in the region.
That might be good news for the killer whales, but bad news for yacht owners. Billionaires, be afraid: the communist killer whales are coming for you.
