Jared Towers was in his research vessel on two separate occasions watching killer whales off the coast of Vancouver Island when the orcas dropped their prey directly in front of him and his colleagues.
The encounters he describes as “rare” and awe-inspiring have led to a new study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Comparative Psychology, detailing researchers’ experiences with killer whales apparently sharing their food with humans.
“We have a long history of interacting with other animals, trying to feed them and gauging their responses. But it’s very rare for any wild predator to do the same to us,” says Towers, who is the executive director of the research group Bay Cetology….