Orca Allokelping: Newly Documented Mutual Grooming Tool Use in Marine Mammals

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Now you might have been to the spa and

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gotten, you know, facial and you've used

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all these different types of plant

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material to make your face look good,

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make your body feel good.

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But how do animals react to itchy skin or

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sensitive skin in the ocean?

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I mean, the saltwater can

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be kind of harsh on our skin.

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Is it harsh on like

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marine mammals like orcas?

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Maybe so. And they

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have a remedy for that.

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It's called allo-kelp.

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It's the first documented use of a tool

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other than for hunting where an animal

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like the orca gets off a piece of kelp

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and rubs it in between two orcas to take

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care of any itchy skin or sensitive skin.

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It's pretty cool.

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And we're going to talk about it on

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today's episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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Let's start the show.

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Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another

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exciting episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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And this is the podcast where you find

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out what's happening with the ocean, how

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you can speak up for the ocean and what

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you can do to live for a

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better ocean by taking action.

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Now, look, I know that a lot of the times

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when we talk about the ocean and how to

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protect it, we have to talk about some of

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the stuff that's not so fun to talk

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about, you know, climate change,

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overfishing, water quality issues,

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plastic pollution and so forth.

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But today we're going to do

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something a little different.

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We're going to talk about some really

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cool things that orcas do.

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And they do a lot of cool things.

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But we found another cool thing to do.

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And that's using a

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tool to help their skin.

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It's a really fun thing to do.

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And, you know, this is what we do on the

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How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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We kind of teach you about the ocean,

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some of the cool things that animals do

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and how to protect a little bit more.

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But we go a little bit deeper now when I

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decided to join a group of cofounders

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that we're putting

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together an undertow community.

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It's called the undertow.

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It's a community where you can join.

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It's going to be a digital app.

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You can join as a community.

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We want 10 million connections, 10

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million of you to take five million

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dollars worth of action by 2030.

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It's an ambitious goal,

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but we want you to get there.

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We want to help guide you to doing the

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right thing and protecting

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the ocean and how to do that.

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Get over all the greenwashing or blue

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washing or however you want to call it.

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Really get down to the nitty gritty and

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be able to say, hey, this

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is how you protect the ocean.

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So go to speak up for blue dot com at

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forward slash join the undertow.

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Join the undertow and get better and

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guided experience or guided ways and

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methodologies of protecting the ocean and

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being involved in a community where

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you're not worried about algorithms on

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social media and be able to kind of join

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a community that's

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there to protect the ocean.

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No algorithm all ocean all the time.

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It's a lot of fun. All right.

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Let's get back into the episode.

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Orca's orca's are cool.

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We love orca's and they

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did something really cool.

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We're going to go over to the orca's not

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the orca's by the Strait of Gibraltar who

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are taking down boats and who are

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continuing to harass boats.

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That's kind of a cool thing in its own

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right, but a little scary.

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We're going to go to the critically

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endangered southern resident orca

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population just off the coast of BC and

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the sailor sea and as well as off the

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northwest coast of

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Washington or the United States.

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And we're going to look at how these

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orca's who are very well monitored and

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very well studied how they are

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interacting and how they are kind of just

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living right how they are enjoying life

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and being able to live and survive.

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There's only 73 of them left. There used

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to be over 150 160 and they went through

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some pretty critical impediments in their

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population in the 1970s. A lot of that

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population was grabbed up caught and

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shipped off to a number

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of marine theme parks.

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So what we know now is like marine land

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in Canada and the sea world parks as well

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as many of them in Russia, China and

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Europe probably South America as well.

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And we know that's documented as

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captivity is not good at all for marine

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mammals and it affects their psyche. It

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affects their emotions. It affects their

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physicality, their physical presence.

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They are stuck in small, you know, tubs

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and that's not good. Right. We know

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that's not good. So a lot of them were

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captured after that and the population

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went down quite a bit.

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I think 60 of them were caught. And then

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we have the lack of salmon that's coming

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back. We have dams that were put up in

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critical rivers where salmon were

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frequenting for hydropower.

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And we saw a lot more predation by sea

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lions as they started to increase. And

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with that effect, that cumulative effect

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of climate change and so forth, we are

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seeing a lot less of the coho salmon,

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which is their favorite food.

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The southern resident oracle population

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favorite food. And so we kept seeing a

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continued decline in their population. So

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now there are 73 of them. We've seen a

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couple of calves be born over a couple of

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times. But then we've also seen some that

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have died at a very, very young age,

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which is heartbreaking.

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We know the behaviors of the ability of

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these orcas to mourn their lost calves.

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And it's been heart wrenching to watch,

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but also very interesting to see how they

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have this culture about them. We know

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that each pod, even within the southern

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oracle resident population have their own

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language and have their own dialect.

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And the transient orcas also have a

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dialect, which eat marine mammals and

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sharks and large animals. And then you

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have the northern resident population,

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which also each pod has their own

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dialect. And some of them can understand

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each other. Some of them

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can't. It really depends.

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But that's something that becomes more

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and more interesting as we look at this.

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And so the culture of these animals is

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something that's very, very interesting

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to scientists, very

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interesting to ocean conservationists.

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And just I would imagine anybody who's

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not in the field just because it's so

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cool to see. And it helps us understand

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their behavior and helps understand what

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is critical to their survival.

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This behavior that we saw through drone

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footage, so drone monitoring, where you

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have these drones that have like highly

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defined cameras on them, and they're

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flown with permits and they have to

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follow certain rules and the drone

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operators have to be licensed by like if

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you're in Canada has to be like the

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National Federation of

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Flights of flying or flying.

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Or whatever you call it the equivalent of

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the FAA. And then the FAA in the US has

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specific guidelines and tests to be able

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to operate a drone. And especially if

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you're around a marine mammal, they used

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to never allow it around a marine mammal

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because the Marine Malle Protection Act

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in the US didn't allow

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anybody to harass these animals.

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And there's such a noise that comes off

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of some of them that it can be considered

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harassment. But the things that progress

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since the beginning of drones and drone

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operations and using drone operations to

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monitor marine mammals.

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And there have been some more research on

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it. It shows like they're in specific

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situations with the proper permitting and

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the proper drone operators. You've been

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able to use drone as a monitoring tool to

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monitor these behaviors.

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And it's really difficult to go up on a

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boat 200 400 meters away, depending on

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what the permits are for and be able to

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monitor things because you're present,

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you're there. And so the animals are

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probably going to behave

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differently when you're there.

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They might be curious and come over and

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see you or they might have tried to avoid

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you, but you're not seeing their natural

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behavior because there's somebody

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present, right? There's a boat present

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that's causing noise that can affect

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their communications and so forth.

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Having a drone go above them in certain

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height and everything and following those

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permits, you're able to see things that

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they don't display when you're present.

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And this is one of

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those things I imagine.

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And it's basically defined as allo

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kelping, which is like trimming the kelp

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types of part of the kelps, the kelp

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plants, and then wedging the kelp types

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between their bodies.

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So taking two orcas and wedging it

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between their bodies and then S shaped

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rubbing each other. So they're rubbing it

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down. And what they notice is that like

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it happened between all sexes.

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It happened between all ages, akin among

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peers, among family members, among peers.

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A lot of times the peers were about the

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same size. Some were like really close

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relatives and some may have been mates in

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the past, but all of them were doing it.

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And this was something that's part of

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their general upkeep and maintenance, it

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seems. One of the tools used is the first

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known mutual grooming tool

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among wild marine mammals.

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Isn't that fascinating to be able to

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capture that using technology from far

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away, using high resolution cameras,

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following permits and following the

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rules. It's amazing what you can do when

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you do things ethically

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and what you can discover.

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It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. So

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why do they do this? Well, it's a

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physical kind of remedy and social

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strengthening for bonds. But

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essentially, it's skincare.

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We as humans, you know, a lot of us go to

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the spa. I've been to a couple of times.

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You get massage, you get treatment, you

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get like your face down, like a facial,

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you'll get your nails trim like a

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manicure and a pedicure.

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You'll put like kelp products, you'll put

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seaweed, you'll put cucumbers, whatever

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it is. I haven't been to many. You

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probably noticed that by then. But you

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use all of the properties of these

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01:08:42,083 --> 01:08:46,041
seaweed or kelp or sea grasses that are

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01:08:46,041 --> 01:08:49,625
used for antibacterial treatments or, you

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01:08:49,625 --> 01:08:51,083
know, facial treatments and like

275
01:08:51,083 --> 01:08:52,458
exfoliating and all that kind of stuff.

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01:08:52,500 --> 01:08:55,333
Well, that's what marine mammals have

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01:08:55,333 --> 01:08:56,750
been doing for a long time. We just

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01:08:56,750 --> 01:08:57,958
didn't know about it. I don't know how

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01:08:57,958 --> 01:08:58,958
long they've been doing this, but they're

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01:08:58,958 --> 01:09:00,083
definitely been doing it for a while

281
01:09:00,083 --> 01:09:02,125
because they do it. It's very much

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01:09:02,125 --> 01:09:03,458
compared to like primates

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01:09:03,458 --> 01:09:04,458
on land who groom each other.

284
01:09:04,500 --> 01:09:06,625
There are other animals that use the

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01:09:06,625 --> 01:09:09,125
tool, but to think that comparing, you

286
01:09:09,125 --> 01:09:11,083
know, primates to marine mammals, like

287
01:09:11,083 --> 01:09:13,958
primates have the hand coordination. They

288
01:09:13,958 --> 01:09:16,083
have that very, very close, really

289
01:09:16,083 --> 01:09:18,583
related to humans. And they have a lot of

290
01:09:18,583 --> 01:09:20,791
the same kind of movements and the same

291
01:09:20,791 --> 01:09:23,041
kind of abilities to grab things with

292
01:09:23,041 --> 01:09:25,250
their hands to be able to grip things to

293
01:09:25,250 --> 01:09:28,041
be able to use tools and fine tune tools.

294
01:09:28,500 --> 01:09:31,166
You look at an orca, they're a 60 to 65

295
01:09:31,166 --> 01:09:33,833
foot animal. They have fins. They don't

296
01:09:33,833 --> 01:09:36,333
have fingers. They can't grip things

297
01:09:36,333 --> 01:09:38,333
unless it's with their mouths. So they

298
01:09:38,333 --> 01:09:42,125
have to be very intricate in placing this

299
01:09:42,125 --> 01:09:44,291
kelp type and be able to put it between

300
01:09:44,291 --> 01:09:47,333
their bodies and rub it back and forth so

301
01:09:47,333 --> 01:09:49,458
that they actually feel the effect of it.

302
01:09:50,500 --> 01:09:51,083
And they're usually like the

303
01:09:51,083 --> 01:09:52,958
antibacterial properties of the kelp to

304
01:09:52,958 --> 01:09:54,250
be able to do it. And then look, look,

305
01:09:54,250 --> 01:09:56,500
they are in habitats where there is kelp,

306
01:09:56,500 --> 01:09:57,541
there's bull kelp. That's the type of

307
01:09:57,541 --> 01:09:58,791
kelp that they use. They could use other

308
01:09:58,791 --> 01:10:00,000
type of kelp, but that's what they were

309
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:01,000
seen using. So we're going

310
01:10:01,000 --> 01:10:02,083
to assume that it's them.

311
01:10:02,666 --> 01:10:05,000
Now here is the important part with

312
01:10:05,000 --> 01:10:07,666
conservation. You have a population that

313
01:10:07,666 --> 01:10:10,416
is critically endangered. They are having

314
01:10:10,416 --> 01:10:13,041
trouble finding salmon. They are having

315
01:10:13,041 --> 01:10:15,458
trouble with climate change. They are

316
01:10:15,458 --> 01:10:16,875
having trouble just

317
01:10:16,875 --> 01:10:18,166
being able to reproduce.

318
01:10:18,583 --> 01:10:22,166
And their physiology is facing some dire

319
01:10:22,166 --> 01:10:24,750
straits when it comes to chemicals in the

320
01:10:24,750 --> 01:10:26,708
water or from plastics and it gets into

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01:10:26,708 --> 01:10:28,958
their tissue and it degrades their

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01:10:28,958 --> 01:10:31,333
system. It degrades their health. And so

323
01:10:31,333 --> 01:10:32,791
they are facing a lot of problems.

324
01:10:33,541 --> 01:10:35,041
Now we've discovered that they've been

325
01:10:35,041 --> 01:10:36,916
using this bull kelp to help with their

326
01:10:36,916 --> 01:10:39,166
skin care. Right? That could be something

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01:10:39,166 --> 01:10:40,666
that's critical to them. We don't know

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01:10:40,666 --> 01:10:43,333
how often they do it. We don't know if

329
01:10:43,333 --> 01:10:44,833
this is a necessity or if this is just

330
01:10:44,833 --> 01:10:46,458
for fun. We don't have a clue.

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01:10:46,875 --> 01:10:49,375
And so when you have bull kelp, which is

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01:10:49,375 --> 01:10:51,666
reducing in its number and its spatial

333
01:10:51,666 --> 01:10:53,958
coverage, and you have a critically

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01:10:53,958 --> 01:10:56,375
endangered species that is using that

335
01:10:56,375 --> 01:10:58,625
bull kelp for potential skin care. Now

336
01:10:58,625 --> 01:10:59,625
you're looking at the conservation

337
01:10:59,625 --> 01:11:01,416
connections here. Right? You're looking

338
01:11:01,416 --> 01:11:03,958
at critically endangered population and

339
01:11:03,958 --> 01:11:06,166
you're having a kelp that used to be very

340
01:11:06,166 --> 01:11:07,250
abundant along the

341
01:11:07,250 --> 01:11:09,083
coast of BC and Washington.

342
01:11:09,958 --> 01:11:11,708
And now it's reducing because of

343
01:11:11,708 --> 01:11:13,166
pollution, climate change and so forth.

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01:11:13,625 --> 01:11:15,125
We have no idea how important the skin

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01:11:15,125 --> 01:11:18,500
care routine is for the orcas. It could

346
01:11:18,500 --> 01:11:20,500
be vitally important. It could help them

347
01:11:20,500 --> 01:11:22,541
get rid of parasites. It could help them

348
01:11:22,541 --> 01:11:25,166
get rid of any kind of cuts or flush

349
01:11:25,166 --> 01:11:26,208
wounds or anything like that.

350
01:11:26,750 --> 01:11:28,125
That could be important in terms of their

351
01:11:28,125 --> 01:11:31,166
overall care, their outer care, right? To

352
01:11:31,166 --> 01:11:34,500
protect their skin. And we don't know how

353
01:11:34,500 --> 01:11:35,916
often they do it, but we're going to

354
01:11:35,916 --> 01:11:37,250
start to figure that out as we can

355
01:11:37,250 --> 01:11:39,791
observe where we're not directly

356
01:11:39,791 --> 01:11:41,541
interfering with their regular patterns.

357
01:11:41,958 --> 01:11:43,458
And we can observe using drones. So

358
01:11:43,458 --> 01:11:44,833
hopefully we see more of this. We see how

359
01:11:44,833 --> 01:11:46,041
they use it, but it's definitely

360
01:11:46,041 --> 01:11:48,291
something to emphasize that not only is

361
01:11:48,291 --> 01:11:49,666
this good for conservation, but it's also

362
01:11:49,666 --> 01:11:50,458
good to understand their culture.

363
01:11:50,500 --> 01:11:53,333
To emphasize that cultural loss, like

364
01:11:53,333 --> 01:11:55,541
loss risk if populations decline further.

365
01:11:55,541 --> 01:11:57,500
So that we lose that culture of those

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01:11:57,500 --> 01:11:59,708
species and how they interact and how

367
01:11:59,708 --> 01:12:02,208
they strengthen bonds with each other by

368
01:12:02,208 --> 01:12:04,500
rubbing close to each other, how they

369
01:12:04,500 --> 01:12:06,500
take care of each other, how it's like

370
01:12:06,500 --> 01:12:07,666
all sexes, all ages, and they

371
01:12:07,666 --> 01:12:08,458
partner up in different ways.

372
01:12:08,500 --> 01:12:11,041
This is all part of their culture and the

373
01:12:11,041 --> 01:12:13,250
more we lose from these animals, the more

374
01:12:13,250 --> 01:12:15,000
culture we lose in these animals. We are

375
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:18,791
not seeing the replacement of young as

376
01:12:18,791 --> 01:12:20,166
much as we're seeing the death of the

377
01:12:20,166 --> 01:12:21,875
old. This population is

378
01:12:21,875 --> 01:12:23,458
not sustainable as we see it.

379
01:12:24,500 --> 01:12:26,333
Until you start getting that regular

380
01:12:26,333 --> 01:12:28,541
reproduction rate and that regular

381
01:12:28,541 --> 01:12:31,041
success in reproduction and those calves

382
01:12:31,041 --> 01:12:34,166
surviving beyond two, three, four, five,

383
01:12:34,166 --> 01:12:37,541
six years and be able to get to sexual

384
01:12:37,541 --> 01:12:39,125
maturity and be able to reproduce

385
01:12:39,125 --> 01:12:40,458
themselves. We do not have

386
01:12:40,458 --> 01:12:41,458
a sustainable population.

387
01:12:42,500 --> 01:12:44,458
So we are not only losing these animals

388
01:12:44,458 --> 01:12:46,500
as apex predators, but we're also losing

389
01:12:46,500 --> 01:12:48,333
the culture that they bring and something

390
01:12:48,333 --> 01:12:49,958
that we can learn from them and that we

391
01:12:49,958 --> 01:12:52,458
can understand what they can do this

392
01:12:52,458 --> 01:12:54,791
behavior. Although it might seem small to

393
01:12:54,791 --> 01:12:57,333
some this reshapes what we know about

394
01:12:57,333 --> 01:12:59,583
work intelligence and culture.

395
01:13:00,500 --> 01:13:03,083
It reaffirms what we think that they can

396
01:13:03,083 --> 01:13:06,500
do, but also brings us to another level

397
01:13:06,500 --> 01:13:07,458
in terms of what they can do.

398
01:13:08,500 --> 01:13:10,666
So it calls for like broader conservation

399
01:13:10,666 --> 01:13:12,000
measures to understand like the

400
01:13:12,000 --> 01:13:14,625
protection, not just of the species, but

401
01:13:14,625 --> 01:13:17,083
of their traditions. And this also has a

402
01:13:17,083 --> 01:13:19,208
big tie probably to the indigenous

403
01:13:19,208 --> 01:13:21,000
populations that know them that have

404
01:13:21,000 --> 01:13:22,333
cultural ties to them.

405
01:13:22,625 --> 01:13:24,125
There are some indigenous population. I

406
01:13:24,125 --> 01:13:25,666
don't know if it's all who believe that

407
01:13:25,666 --> 01:13:27,750
when their elders die or pass away or

408
01:13:27,750 --> 01:13:30,000
somebody from their community passes

409
01:13:30,000 --> 01:13:32,458
away, they become the orcas.

410
01:13:32,500 --> 01:13:34,916
This is very close to tying to their

411
01:13:34,916 --> 01:13:36,583
cultural feelings and very close to the

412
01:13:36,583 --> 01:13:37,916
time to like how they learn from the

413
01:13:37,916 --> 01:13:39,541
orcas and how the orcas learn from them.

414
01:13:39,916 --> 01:13:42,583
Right? So there's a lot of stuff going on

415
01:13:42,583 --> 01:13:45,041
here and it's a big deal probably bigger

416
01:13:45,041 --> 01:13:46,416
than you think of like, Oh, that's cool.

417
01:13:46,500 --> 01:13:48,500
Yeah, they can use kelp to kind of like

418
01:13:48,500 --> 01:13:49,916
exfoliate themselves. That's kind of

419
01:13:49,916 --> 01:13:51,791
cool. No, no, no, this is bigger than

420
01:13:51,791 --> 01:13:53,958
that. It shows how intelligent

421
01:13:53,958 --> 01:13:54,458
they are, how they use tools.

422
01:13:55,500 --> 01:13:56,958
And it's the first time we've ever seen

423
01:13:56,958 --> 01:13:58,500
something like this other than hunting,

424
01:13:59,041 --> 01:14:00,333
which we already know they're smart at.

425
01:14:00,500 --> 01:14:01,916
So I want to bring this to your

426
01:14:01,916 --> 01:14:03,583
attention. I think it's really important.

427
01:14:03,583 --> 01:14:04,916
I'd love to hear what you think. Put your

428
01:14:04,916 --> 01:14:06,250
comments down below.

429
01:14:06,500 --> 01:14:07,708
If you're watching this on YouTube or if

430
01:14:07,708 --> 01:14:08,750
you're listening to this on your favorite

431
01:14:08,750 --> 01:14:11,916
podcast app, you can email me by going to

432
01:14:11,916 --> 01:14:13,666
speak up for blue.com forward slash

433
01:14:13,666 --> 01:14:15,958
contact fill out the form. It goes right

434
01:14:15,958 --> 01:14:17,916
to my email or you can contact me just DM

435
01:14:17,916 --> 01:14:20,291
me on Instagram at how

436
01:14:20,291 --> 01:14:20,458
to protect the ocean.

437
01:14:20,500 --> 01:14:22,791
That's at how to protect the ocean. I

438
01:14:22,791 --> 01:14:24,416
hope you enjoyed this episode as much as

439
01:14:24,416 --> 01:14:26,250
I did telling you all about it and

440
01:14:26,250 --> 01:14:28,125
recording it. This has been another

441
01:14:28,125 --> 01:14:29,583
episode of the how to protect the ocean

442
01:14:29,583 --> 01:14:31,500
podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from

443
01:14:31,500 --> 01:14:33,791
the true north strong and free for a lot

444
01:14:33,791 --> 01:14:36,291
of this happened in Canada. Have a great

445
01:14:36,291 --> 01:14:37,291
day. We'll talk to you next

446
01:14:37,291 --> 01:14:38,500
time and happy conservation.