Nature Nut<\/p>\n
Published 1:30 am Thursday, March 12, 2026<\/p>\n
A recent study described in UBC News (Dec. 11, 2025) outlines a research project monitoring killer whales and dolphins that appear to be hunting together for salmon in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n
The study, carried out by the University of British Columbia, Dalhousie University, the Leibniz Institute, and the Hakai Institute, used drone cameras together with sensors attached to 12 killer whales, or orcas. The technology produced detailed visual images of the interaction and confirmed cooperative hunting behaviour between the two predatory mammals.<\/p>\n
Researchers found that some whales were diving with Pacific white-sided dolphins to reach Chinook salmon in deeper waters off the northern tip of Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n
Chinook salmon, also called king salmon, tend to stay in deeper waters where they can hide among rocks and crevasses. Four of the tagged orcas dived with the dolphins as deep as 60 metres.<\/p>\n
Researchers believe the orcas were using the dolphins to help \u201cscout out\u201d the salmon. The whales often oriented themselves toward the dolphins, as if watching their behaviour.<\/p>\n
Both dolphins and orcas emit clicks and buzzes for echolocation, creating a noisy environment underwater. But the orcas appeared to reduce their echolocation, possibly to \u201ceavesdrop\u201d on the dolphins\u2019 activity to locate fish more easily.<\/p>\n
While the orcas ate most of the salmon, the dolphins consumed the scraps. Chinook salmon are often too large for dolphins to eat, but they were able to pick up pieces left behind by the northern Vancouver Island orcas, which researchers described as particularly messy eaters. Observers noted no aggressive behaviour between the two predators.<\/p>\n
The behaviour was first reported by a drone pilot working with the Hakai Institute. Researchers say the co-operative hunting may have been occurring for some time, as sightings of orcas and dolphins interacting without harm have been reported previously.<\/p>\n
New technology helped researchers understand what was happening during those encounters.<\/p>\n
See also: YouTube \u2014 Global News, Rare footage shows orcas and dolphins team up to hunt prey off British Columbia coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nature Nut Published 1:30 am Thursday, March 12, 2026 A recent study described in UBC News (Dec. 11,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-531385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}