Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent bycatch
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Science
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
WDC2023-007 NMLC Release (16)

Seal Rescued in Marshfield Released Back Into The Wild

05/31/2023
For Immediate Release, May 31, 2023 PLYMOUTH, MA - A young male grey seal that...

Norway ups whale kill numbers and removes whale welfare protections

05/04/2023
The whaling season in Norway has begun on the back of disturbing announcements from the...
Image taken from an unmanned hexacopter at >100ft during a research collaboration between NOAA/SWFSC, SR3 and the Coastal Ocean Research Institute. Research authorized by NMFS permit #19091.

Southern Resident orca petition to list them under Oregon Endangered Species Act advanced

04/24/2023
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted today to advance a petition seeking to protect...
Hysazu Photography

WDC and Conservation Partners Continue to Seek Oregon Endangered Species Protection for Southern Resident Orcas

04/17/2023
On Friday, April 21st, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will determine whether the petition...
Load More loader

Research reveals pilot whales babysit young of other whales

By George Berry | 11/18/2016

A new report in Marine Mammal Science on the findings of a study of pilot whales off Nova Scotia, Canada, has shown that adult whales in the population look after the young of unrelated other whales. While this type of babysitting, know as “alloparental care”, has been observed in other social mammals, it is the first time it has been studied in pilot whales.

The whales have been observed from whale-watching boats since 1998 and using various techniques, including photo-identification, the researchers were able to record how calves would interact with different adult whales. Alloparenting was considered to be taking place when the whales were seen with at least one whale other than its mother. In some years, the activity was recorded in over 80% of calves, with both male and female whales taking part in the caring. Several other species of whales and dolphins that live in social groups, such as sperm whales, orcas and bottlenose dolphins also take part in similar activities.

Characterizing alloparental care in the pilot whale (Globicephala melas) population that summers off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada
Authors: Joana F. Augusto, Timothy R. Frasier, Hal Whitehead
Marine Mammal Science 
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12377/full

Posted in News and tagged ,