N.S. researcher spots first recorded case of an orca caring for another species’ baby

Dalhousie’s Elizabeth Zwamborn says the orca may have been trying to adopt the newborn pilot whale

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HALIFAX — A Halifax-based biologist is part of a research team that has documented the first recorded case of an orca caring for the offspring of another species.

The team spotted a female orca — or killer whale — caring for a newborn long-finned pilot whale calf off Iceland when there were no other pilot whales nearby.

Elizabeth Zwamborn, a researcher at Dalhousie University, says the orca may have been trying to adopt the newborn pilot whale, as the orca has never been spotted with a calf of her own.

The team’s findings have been recently published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology, in the article “First account of apparent alloparental care of a long-finned pilot whale calf.”

The pilot whale calf was seen swimming in a “protected position” next to the killer whale in August 2021 on the western coast of Iceland.

Researchers say that while killer whales and long-finned pilot whales have similar social structures, the 2021 sighting was the first time scientists have recorded an orca caring for a pilot whale calf.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2023.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press