“Orcas often share food with each other — it’s a prosocial activity. That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.”
Researchers cataloged 34 instances over 20 years of wild orcas floating fish to swimmers and boaters across four continents. The whales linger expectantly afterward and sometimes try again when humans decline the gift. Food sharing is how orcas build bonds within their pods, and they appear to be extending that social behavior to us. Given what humans have done to ocean ecosystems, the orcas are being far more generous than we deserve.