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Second Nexus © 2019
[DIGEST: Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic, Tech Times]
A seal sits atop an Antarctic ice floe as orcas circle in for the kill. Suddenly, a humpback whale swoops in, places the seal on its belly and out of danger.
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A pod of orcas </span><a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/172989/20160808/why-do-humpback-whales-save-seals-sunfish-from-killer-whales.htm"><span style="font-weight: 400;">targets a gray whale</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and kill the whale’s calf. As the orcas attempt to feast, 16 humpback whales keep vigil, spending over six hours loudly and vigorously preventing the orcas from eating their kill. </span></p><p><div id="insticator-container" class="embedid-ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"><div id="div-insticator-ad-1"></div><div id="insticator-embed"></div><div id="div-insticator-ad-2"></div><script data-cfasync="false" type="text/javascript">Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-1");Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-2");Insticator.load("em",{id : "ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"})</script></div></p><p>[embed]<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba7a3174ce24e259a941d4e5e27cc009"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SWIda-OUdg0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>[/embed]</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Over the past 62 years, marine biologists have observed humpback whales performing 115 similar acts of mercy, according to a study published last month in </span><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/humpback-whales-save-animals-killer-whales-explained/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160808news-humpbacks&utm_campaign=Content&sf32832340=1"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marine Mammal Science</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Of these interactions, 89 percent of them involved their rescue of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">other</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> species, including sea lions, harbor seals, and even sunfish. The humpbacks’ </span><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/altruistic-humpback-whales-around-world-are-stopping-orcas-killing-seals-1574315"><span style="font-weight: 400;">rescue missions</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> continued unabated.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While it is clear these are not isolated events, the explanation for this behavior is less clear.</span></p><p><div data-conversation-spotlight=""></div></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzNjc0NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDg4NzgyMX0.n_oR6dLI6nWrw0uAx-bfjVbleeDRq0jO3v9CNqJyvtg/img.jpg?width=980" id="357ea" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b16b0b551f6d1bed17fb6ecafd199c7a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Credit: <a href="https://assets.rbl.ms/22036744/origin.jpg">Source</a>.</small></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There is rarely much benefit to protecting another species. This may explain why humpback whales </span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0808/Do-humpback-whales-show-signs-of-altruism"><span style="font-weight: 400;">are the only cetacean</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that deliberately approaches attacking killer whales and drives them off. Yet given that animals typically come to the aid of other species only when it </span><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/humpback-whales-save-animals-killer-whales-explained/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160808news-humpbacks&utm_campaign=Content&sf32832340=1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">benefits them</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, scientists are attempting to arrive at non-altruistic explanations for the whales’ seemingly incongruous behavior. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For instance, orcas have been known to </span><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/humpback-whales-save-animals-killer-whales-explained/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160808news-humpbacks&utm_campaign=Content&sf32832340=1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">attack humpbacks when they are young</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, so some scientists have suggested that this rescuing behavior may have evolved as a way to protect </span></p><p><b></b></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">their young. Yet this doesn’t address the 89 percent of other times when the humpback whales continue to defend a creature even after it becomes clear it is not one of their own. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As an alternate theory, let’s not rule out revenge! </span><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/humpback-whales-save-animals-killer-whales-explained/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160808news-humpbacks&utm_campaign=Content&sf32832340=1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alisa Schulman-Janiger</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a whale researcher with the California Killer Whale Project, noted that not all humpbacks interfere with hunts, and many of those that do are marked with scars from their run-ins with orcas as calves. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Or the whales may be responding to auditory calls made by the killer whales when they are hunting. The humpbacks are unable to identify the species under attack until they have invested the energy to come in for the rescue—sometimes from distances of up to 2 kilometers away, </span><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/altruistic-humpback-whales-around-world-are-stopping-orcas-killing-seals-1574315"><span style="font-weight: 400;">the study noted</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzNjc0NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTk5MjY3NH0.c9WtdPyMYcGdfYs-x-jDbJirTHybGxBdqqf8f2Z1d8k/img.jpg?width=980" id="3da2f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e359293cb76d484476e85e56d47d8aa7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Credit: <a href="https://assets.rbl.ms/22036745/origin.jpg">Source</a>.</small></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There could be another explanation, however: altruism. Although it is uncommon in the animal kingdom: humpbacks could be engaging in interspecies—or interspecific—altruistic behaviors. As the </span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0808/Do-humpback-whales-show-signs-of-altruism"><span style="font-weight: 400;">researchers reported</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">: “Interspecific altruism, even if unintentional, could not be ruled out.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Although this behavior is very interesting, I don’t find it completely surprising that a cetacean would intervene to help a member of another species,” said </span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0808/Do-humpback-whales-show-signs-of-altruism"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lori Marino</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, an expert in cetacean intelligence and president of the Whale Sanctuary Project. Marino notes that humpbacks are intelligent problem solvers and communicators which are “attributes of those of a species with a highly developed degree of general intelligence capable of empathic responses.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Further research is required to find out the exact reason for the humpback whales’ unusual behavior. But those hoping to find true altruism in the humpback whales’ behavior may be disappointed. For the most part, said </span><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/humpback-whales-save-animals-killer-whales-explained/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160808news-humpbacks&utm_campaign=Content&sf32832340=1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Robert Pitman</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, lead author of the study, animals tend to act in their own best interest. “As biologists,” he said, “that is where we should start our search for explanations.”</span></p>
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