"Sarah Fortune, a marine ecologist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, and her colleagues used drones and camera-equipped tags to study the killer whales over two weeks in August 2020. As they observed, they noticed something strangethe regular presence of Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens). On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing."
"We kept finding that when the killer whales were feeding, the dolphins were there, Fortune says. This gave us a bit of a tip that perhaps there was something of significance occurring. A Pacific white-sided dolphin seen during a new study on potential hunting partnerships between orcas and dolphins. So the scientists dug into the data, looking for evidence of how these different marine mammals were interacting during killer whale mealtimes, when animals hunt for large adult Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)."
Researchers used drones and camera-equipped tags to observe killer whales off the coast of British Columbia for two weeks in August 2020. Observations revealed a regular presence of Pacific white-sided dolphins alongside northern resident killer whales during feeding. Dolphins frequently accompanied feeding killer whales and sometimes consumed loose pieces of salmon while killer whales ate whole fish. Killer whales showed a preference for following dolphins during hunts for large adult Chinook salmon. The interactions suggest potential interspecific hunting partnerships in which dolphins may aid prey capture and share in the feeding.
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