- As you are aware, but worth reiterating innumerable times, Mother Nature will continue to maintain so many secrets under the belly that those will be revealed only when we are prepared to embrace them. This has been the norm since time immemorial and will remain so till humanity exists on this wonderful planet. Despite humankind claiming to have unearthed mind-boggling mysteries of the universe over the millennia, Mother Nature will always showcase supremacy by revealing some more interesting but hitherto unknown occurrences, making us realise how little we are capable of unearthing secrets on our own. There’s yet another angle to our abilities to comprehend, even though we falsely believe in inferring everything under the Earth.
PC: Live Science
- One such aspect was reported recently when new research on orcas pointed to an old human error of assuming what we cannot perceive doesn’t exist. How false are our pretentions and inferences? People inclined to know more scientific evidence to support views about how animals exist, behave, and showcase certain unique aspects must be delighted with the new unearthing of orcas’ behavioral tendencies. Don’t be surprised to read when someone asks, do you loofah? It’s an efficient delivery of cleaning, soothing, and shining pleasures to our skin. Turns out orcas, aka killer whales, the largest members of the dolphin family, are also really into it. Who said it’s only humans who sweat about maintaining a fair and healthy complexion?
PC: PETBOOK magazine
- The current issue of Current Biology reports observations where orcas were seen to refashion kelp to exfoliate each other. This is the first recorded instance of allokelping. So much so that it is the first recorded instance of any marine mammal making a tool out of some object, let alone a grooming tool. How little is known about all the other species that cohabitate Earth with us, never mind how much we hurt them. Of course, scientists are finding things out bit by bit. In orcas, besides allogrooming, they have observed other interesting rubbing behaviours. The hypothesis is that just as touch helps build relationships and moderate stress among humans, so it is when orcas rub each other with their bodies and fins, and the kelp enhances this experience.
PC: Medium
- However, what’s revealing is that every such scientific discovery feels like a big surprise. That’s about how hubristic humans are. As conservationists would say, we tend to believe that what we cannot perceive does not exist. Until a wave of new projects and tech started revealing orcas’ complex vocalisations and pod-specific dialects, we assumed whales weren’t talking to each other, because we weren’t hearing them. How could AI potentially connect with the non-human world? Can we see a mother orca and a child orca grooming each other and talking to each other? Maybe if we heard animals better, we would extinct them less. Imagine if it were technology that finally got us to understand that animals speak and live meaningfully. That would be wonderful.
