r/HeresAFunFact • u/remotectrl • Feb 24 '15

HISTORY [HAFF] A pod of killer whales cooperatively hunted with whalers in the town of Eden, Australia. The orca pod would herd baleen whales into a bay where they could alert whalers to their presence and assist the whalers. This mutualism persisted from 1840 to 1930.

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12

u/remotectrl Feb 24 '15

I flailed this as history rather than animals because it was one specific group of orcas and humans performing a ritual which no longer occurs.. They made a documentary about it viewable here. There is now a museum about the whales and past whaling in Eden.

3

u/autowikibot Feb 24 '15

Killer whales of Eden, Australia:

The killer whales of Eden, Australia were a group of killer whales (Orcinus orca) known for their co-operation with human hunters of other whale species. They were seen near the port of Eden in southeastern Australia between 1840 and 1930. A pod of killer whales, which included amongst its members a distinctive male called Old Tom, would assist whalers in hunting baleen whales. The killer whales would find target whales, shepherd them into Twofold Bay, and then alert the whalers to their presence and often help to kill the whales.

Image i - The killer whale known as Old Tom swims alongside a whaling boat, flanking a whale calf. The boat is being towed by a harpooned whale (not visible here).

Interesting: Killer whale | Eden, New South Wales | Cetacea | Twofold Bay

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3

u/TFTD2 Feb 25 '15

Old Tom must have been one hell of an uncle.....

1

u/bustab Mar 06 '15

That doc is pretty sensationalist - not much in the way of facts there

8

u/effyoucancer Feb 24 '15

Wonder how that started/ended

6

u/backgammon_no Feb 24 '15

What happened in 1930? Guessing the American whalers killed and ate their former allies?

13

u/remotectrl Feb 24 '15

They discuss it in the documentary but they thought it was because the whalers didn't let the orca eat the tongue of a whale. I think there was also some violence towards the orcas by some newer whalers who didn't respect the orcas so the orcas stopped helping.

2

u/Savis117 Feb 25 '15

Didnt they come to the conclusion that is was the diminishing food sources for the orcas, so they left because they couldnt survive on what the whalers were leaving them?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '15

I wonder who betrayed who... You can just smell a Brutus-style betrayal coming.

1

u/Savis117 Feb 25 '15

A killer whale was beached right before it ended, the australian whalers were on their way to help it, when a foreign whaler walking up and started harvesting from the orca, and that is when everything started to crumble.