Two separate reports this week of individuals from distinct species of marine mammals that usually fight each other instead observed being nice and swimming together in the Atlantic Ocean are raising questions of how to finish this lede in a way that sounds insightful and informative about certain concepts in aquatic biology far beyond our usual beat of stupid political bullshit.
In a moment observed off of southwestern Iceland in August 2021 but only reported in the Canadian Journal of Zoology last month and picked up by McClatchy this week, a female orca named Sædís appeared to have adopted a baby pilot whale. Scientists say it was surprising as the two species are usually antagonistic, but it may not be an outlier either as another orca was spotted with a baby pilot whale in June 2022. It’s not clear if Sædís and the baby have continued to swim together.
More recently at least twice over the last few weeks two bottlenose dolphins and a harbor porpoise have been observed swimming and playing together off the west coast of Britain, according to a news release picked up by the same McClatchy reporter as the above orca story. The sightings were notable as “while (these species) share the same habitat, porpoises tend to steer clear of dolphins, so to see them playing and sticking together over such a long period is a really rare event,” according to Lucy Babey, head of the UK’s ORCA marine wildlife organization.