Thaindian News

London, August 13 (ANI): Scientists have discovered that killer whales create and visit social clubs just like human beings.

Up to 100 fish-eating killer whales come together in the Avacha Gulf, off the coast of Russia. But no one knew why the whales form these huge superpods, when they normally live in smaller groups.

Now, according to a report by BBC News, these groups act as clubs in which the killer whales form and maintain social ties.

Fish-eating killer whales in the Avacha Gulf live in stable groups called pods that contain an average of ten individuals and up to 20 in the largest pods.

But, researchers have seen up to eight of these pods coming together to form large groups of up to 100 animals.

These large aggregations of pods are seen in numerous places around the world where large numbers of killer whales occur such as British Columbia, Alaska, Iceland and Antarctica.

To investigate, Olga Filatova of the Moscow State University and colleagues from the Far East Russia Orca project observed and photographed whales in the Avacha Gulf from a 4m long boat.

“As far as the eye can see, in every direction you see groupings of two to six killer whales surfacing, spouting then dipping below the surface,” said project co-director Erich Hoyt of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), which provided the majority of funding for the project.

“Each grouping has a focal mother figure surrounded by her offspring, some of whom may be full grown males with up to 2m dorsal fins that tower over the females,” he added.

The scientists found that the whales did interact much more during these large gatherings that lasted from a few hours to almost half a day.

When meeting whales from other family pods, they made contact with each other, swam in synchrony and rubbed flippers much more often.

Sexual activity also increased, suggesting that these big aggregations provide a chance to assess potential breeding partners.

However, according to the scientists, these behaviours enable the whales to establish and maintain social bonds and it is for that reason that the whales gather in core meeting areas and form large aggregations.

“The superpods are like big social clubs. These clubs could help them stay acquainted, could be part of the courting process but could have other functions that we need to learn about,” said Hoyt.

“Understanding more about their social lives, including their reproduction, will be crucial to our future understanding of them and our ability to keep their population healthy,” he added. (ANI)