When you consider 36 tonne ( 40 tons ) , you do n’t have to worry too much about getting eaten by predators . However , not contented to only luxuriate in their own untouchability , humpback whaleshave continually been spotted look out for other marine animals by ill-use in to protect them from sea wolf hulk approach . pay that this does not directly benefit the hunchback , researchers are stump as to why they bother to put themselves in peril by picking fights with one of the sea ’s most notorious killer , with some intimate that they may be acting out of altruism .
In 2009 , maritime ecologist Robert Pitman observed an awesome scenery in the waters off Antarctica , where a humpback whale came to the rescue of a Weddell seal that had been criticize from an ice floe by a pod of orcas and appeared designate to become their dinner party . Amazingly , however , the Megaptera novaeangliae placed the seal on its upturned belly , protect it from its attackers until it was able-bodied to shin to safety on another piece of blow frosting .
After see this unbelievable rescue enactment , Pitman and some of his co-worker began collecting accounts of humpback hulk interact with orcas , recorded by 54 unlike observer between 1951 and 2012 . A total of 115 interaction were reported over this period , details of which have now been published in the journalMarine Mammal Science .
Of these 115 events , 57 percent were broach by the crookback , suggesting they actively seek out killer whales in decree to engage them in battle . In just over 87 pct of these case , the orcas were in the process ofhunting their preywhen the humpback showed up .
Yet most remarkably of all , in 89 pct of incident , the humpbacks intervened as the killer whales were attack a species other than humpbacks , indicating that these marine giants do n’t only protect their own kind , but have also start the back of other tool .
Among the fauna that the hulk helped to protect were the the likes of of California sea lions , sea sunfish , harbor seal of approval , and grey whales . The humpbacks used a potpourri of tactics to fend off the orcas , include slapping them with their flipper and flukes , bellow at them , and chasing them .
Though the researchers are n’t whole sure what possesses the kyphosis to act so selflessly , they suspect it may be because they are wary of orca whale attacking their own calves . As such , they automatically interfere whenever they hear orcas hunting , before they even know what species their dupe is . Why they bear on with the confrontation even after learning that the slayer whales are not round a Megaptera novaeangliae , however , is still a secret .
