photo #8600516

Orcas are giving humans gifts and waiting to see what we’ll do. They've been giving us dead seabirds, fish and even seal pups. Over two decades, scientists documented 54 cases of wild killer whales presenting food to humans. Sometimes they placed it beside boats or dropped it near underwater cameras. Other times they surfaced with prey in their mouths, only to release it right in front of researchers. In many cases, they seemed to pause – watching, waiting for a response. Some scientists think orcas may be testing human responses – studying us the way they study each other. Others see it as cross-species curiosity, or perhaps an echo of social rituals found in dolphins and other intelligent animals.