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Killer Whale Uses Fish As Bait to Catch Seagulls

September 2, 2005 by Jack Steiner 4 Comments

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“NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario Sep 1, 2005 — An enterprising young killer whale at Marineland has figured out how to use fish as bait to catch seagulls and shared his strategy with his fellow whales.

Michael Noonan, a professor of animal behavior at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., made the discovery by accident while studying orca acoustics.

“One day I noticed one of the young whales appeared to have come up with a procedure for luring gulls down to the pool,” the professor said. “I found it interesting so I noted it in my log.”

First, the young whale spit regurgitated fish onto the surface of the water, then sank below the water and waited.

If a hungry gull landed on the water, the whale would surge up to the surface, sometimes catching a free meal of his own.

Noonan watched as the same whale set the same trap again and again.

Within a few months, the whale’s younger half brother adopted the practice. Eventually the behavior spread and now five Marineland whales supplement their diet with fresh fowl, the scientist said.

“It looked liked one was watching while the other tried,” Noonan said of the whale’s initial behavior.

The capacity to come up with the gull-baiting strategy and then share the technique with others known as cultural learning in the scientific world was once believed to be one of those abilities that separated humans from other animals.”

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Comments

  1. Jack's Shack says

    September 2, 2005 at 3:25 pm

    Hey B2,

    How are you?

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    September 2, 2005 at 3:24 pm

    Certain monkeys do that too — pass along learned knowlege.

    P.S. Jack — it’s me, B2 — but the Blogger comments seem to be screwed up right now.

    Reply
  3. Jack's Shack says

    September 2, 2005 at 2:41 pm

    Actually whales are not fish.

    Reply
  4. fsgsf says

    September 2, 2005 at 2:08 pm

    smart fish! 🙂

    Peace!

    NJ from NJ

    Reply

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