new study reveals multi-species salmon hunt

A new report from the University of British Columbia includes video evidence of dolphins and killer whales hunting cooperatively for salmon, potentially challenging what the world knows about marine life.

The video was revealed as part of a Nature publication titled Cooperative foraging between dolphins and fish-eating killer whales. The report details how researchers caught a rare interaction between the two iconic species working fin-in-fin on B.C.’s coast.

Andrew Trites, a UBC marine mammal researcher and part of the team that captured the drone video, says they came across the scene by complete accident, while documenting a chinook salmon population and northern resident killer whale eating habits.

“The odds of us getting it were one in a million,” Trites told The Leader Spirit.

“And in the process of doing this, we got photobombed by dolphins. They were just yacking it up in front, adding confusion to our study.”

Trites says the old belief was that dolphins annoyed killer whales, but the video shows them acting as scouts, helping orcas find chinook salmon.

“The intel comes back to the killer whale: there’s something big, it fits all the criteria for a chinook salmon, the killer whale then takes over, and goes in to make the kill. And in the darkness, all we hear is this crunch.”

In return, Trites says, the dolphins feed on the scraps of a fish they wouldn’t be able to eat on their own.

“Without the killer whales, chinook salmon would never be on their menu.”

Trites says the findings could change how researchers understand the mammals.

“I suspect that there will be other cases reported. And people may rethink through some of the interactions they’ve seen and go, ‘Ah, maybe I misunderstood.”

Credits for the publication and video include University of British Columbia (A.Trites), Dalhousie University (S. Fortune), Hakai Institute (K. Holmes), Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (X. Cheng).