The Humpback and the Killer | Radiolab Podcast @Radiolabpod

Radiolab | The Humpback and the Killer | Radiolab Podcast @Radiolabpod | Uploaded August 2022 | Updated October 2024, 9 hours ago.
From the Radiolab podcast: Oceans also have their vigilantes.

Killer whales — orcas — eat all sorts of animals, including humpback calves. But one day, biologists saw a group of humpback whales trying to stop some killer whales from eating… a seal. And then it happened again. And again. It turns out, all across the oceans, humpback whales are swimming around stopping killer whales from hunting all kinds of animals — from seals to gray whales to sunfish. And while many scientists explain this behavior as the result of blind instincts that are ultimately selfish, much of the world celebrates humpbacks as superhero vigilantes of the sea. But when Annie McEwen dug into what was really going on between humpbacks and killer whales, she found a set of stories that refused to fit in either of those two ways of seeing the world.

Special thanks to Eric J. Gleske and Brendan Brucker at Media Services, Oregon State University as well as Colleen Talty at Monterey Bay Whale Watch and California Killer Whale Project. Special thanks also to Doug McKnight and Giuliana Mayo.

Episode Credits:
Reported and produced by Annie McEwen
Original music and sound design by Annie McEwen
Mixing help from Arianne Wack
Fact-checking by Diane Kelly
Edited by Becca Bressler

Episode Segments:
00:00 Humpback vigilantes
17:32 Interpreting this behavior

Guests include:
Robert Pittman, Oregon State University
Nancy Black, Monterey Bay Whale Watch
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project

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Photo illustration Anna Rascouët-Paz.

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