Even wilderness isn’t a place of friendships, Mother Nature frequently offers some unexpected bonds between animals of different species. While we got used to unlikely friendship between farm animals or even among wild creatures, the marine world is still very secretive when it comes to that. Therefore, an orca travelling alongside a group of dolphins is definitely a sight to behold.
While sailing out of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, this group of people witnessed a very rare sight. They accidentally spotted a pod of dolphins hanging out with a solitary orca. A scene you won’t see everyday given these marine mammals are avoiding each other at any costs. But once again, Mother Nature decided to amaze us!
However, according to the experts there might be a good reason why dolphins are travelling accompanied by orcas. The marine experts say there are two types of orcas: resident and transient. And while the transient orcas are feeding with other marine mammals, the resident ones are feeding only with fishes. More than that, the resident orcas are more friendly that the other ones. In this particularly situation, the dolphins knew there’s a resident friendly orca so, they decided to join it.
“Other marine mammal species appear to know the difference between fish-eating (resident) and mammal-eating (transient) orcas,” Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, told The Dodo. “Researchers can tell the difference, so certainly it makes sense that potential prey can too. I’ve seen this before — white-sided dolphins treat large male fish-eating orcas the same as they would a boat — they ride his ‘bow.’”
Watch the rare scene here:
h/t: the dodo
