In honor of World Orca Day on July 14th, EAAM designated the entire month of July as Orca Month across our social media platforms. This initiative was highly successful, thanks to the invaluable collaboration with Marineland Côte d'Azur and Loro Parque. We invite you to view the summary here.
Research 'Metabolism' | Marineland Côte d'Azur
Knowing the basic metabolism of cetacean populations is essential to quantify the impact of the additional energy costs induced by habitat disturbances. Thanks to accelerometers deployed on wild orcas, scientists can determine the different types of activities of these marine mammals. To translate these activities into energy expenditure, it is necessary to know the oxygen consumption of the animals, which is impossible to measure in the wild.
It is these reference data, scientifically reliable, which were collected at the Marineland Côte d'Azur by Austin Allen (1) and Andreas Fahlman (2), two scientists specializing in the study of animal physiology. Between March 2022 and November 2023, the 10 animal caretakers dedicated to orcas born at Marineland put their learning expertise at the service of science. The relationship of trust between the keepers and the animals made it possible to desensitize them to the materials necessary for collecting calibration data at rest and after dynamic apnea. The orcas, equipped with tags, learned to breathe, according to their natural rhythm, in an instrument capable of measuring the volumes of air exchanged. This research makes it possible to complete the same type of data already collected from bottlenose dolphins. Thanks to modeling and after extrapolation, they will provide information on the energy needs of cetaceans in the natural environment from the smallest species to the largest.
Research 'Copy' | Marineland Côte d'Azur
Studies of learning abilities through imitation are mainly conducted with primates and birds. However, cetaceans are also good study subjects to test the ability to learn by imitation. Indeed, they have a highly developed brain, a rich social life, complex communication.
Within orcas (Orcinus orca) populations, it is this type of learning skills that could explain the transmission from generation to generation of dialects and hunting techniques unique for each pod.
As early as 2012, Marineland enabled scientists José Zamorano-Abramson and Mr. Victoria Hernández-Lloreda from the Faculty of Psychology of the Complutense University of Madrid to demonstrate the ability of orcas to learn through imitation.
Once the concept “do as other does” has been taught to the orcas, multiple configurations have been tested over the years: imitation of sounds, imitation of sounds modulated in their frequency and tonality, imitation of known behaviors with or without delay and imitation of unknown behaviors.
Each time, the orcas largely revealed their ability to imitate.
Research 'Creativity' | Marineland Côte d'Azur
Thinking flexibly is a skill that allows animals to adapt to changing environments, improving their survival. Killer whales, Orcinus orca, as an apex predator in the ocean, demonstrate complex cognitive abilities, including flexible thinking or creativity in foraging. The killer whales at Marineland were trained to respond to an “innovate” cue, in which a behaviour different from previous behaviours was required to obtain a reward. Results indicated that the killer whales demonstrated flexibility in their behaviours. At the individual level, younger animals demonstrated more variable behaviours than older animals. Males exhibited less complex and less energetic behaviours than all females, but the age or size of the animal may also have contributed to these differences. Formal testing began in August 2020, after the start of a year of training. The results support existing evidence that killer whales are dynamic in their thinking and behaviour. Research has enriched the behavioural repertoire of the animals. During the training and testing phases, the killer whales invented 38 new behaviours. These behaviours have become part of their daily repertoire. Throughout the study, the researchers and animal team were amazed by the cognitive abilities of the whales. Not only did this scientific adventure prove the creative abilities of orcas, but it once again strengthened the bond between animals and caregivers.
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