This is an adorable article in Live Science on how whale couples resolve disputes.
[Quote begins from Killer Whales Settle Disputes Like Humans by Jeanna Bryner]
"Nearly all social animals occasionally squabble," Noonan said.
He noted 21 disagreements, many of which involved complicated interactions between several whales. Most notably, the video revealed eight unambiguous quarrels between one pair—a mother and a father. The disputes entailed aggressive chasing, Noonan said....
After the mother chased the father for several minutes, each zipped away to separate aquatic quarters to cool off for about 10 minutes. Then, the mates smoothed over their clash with side-by-side swimming, called echelon swimming [image].
"In eight out of eight instances, the animals engaged in a pro-social, affiliative behavior shortly after the period of tension," Noonan told LiveScience. "The pro-social behavior was echelon swimming."
Animal behavior scientists have known that orcas take part in echelon swimming as a form of routine social bonding. "That these two [killer whales] did it so consistently after periods of tension is the new discovery," Noonan said.
[quote from article ends.]
Comments