Amazing stuff!
"In the cold waters of the Salish Sea, just off the coast of British Columbia, you might be able to catch a glimpse of a killer whale’s skincare routine. Using their teeth, the giant ocean predators break off short lengths of bull kelp, a seaweed that looks like a multitailed whip, and place it between their stomach and the belly of another whale. The result is a magnificent image: two killer whales, moving in synchrony, their bodies making a curved “S” shape as they hug a small piece of kelp between them.
This act of mutual exfoliation, which researchers call “allokelping” in a study ... marks the first time aquatic mammals have ever been observed making tools to cooperatively groom each other. ...
Researchers have long known marine mammals can make tools.
Bottlenose dolphins, for example, detach marine sponges and wear them over their noses to protect them from sharp objects on the marine floor as they look for fish to eat.
And whales, which constantly shed their skin like humans do, are no strangers to using tools for grooming. Bowhead whales in the waters near Canada’s Baffin Island sometimes rub themselves on rocks to slough off dead skin, much like humans use pumice stones as an exfoliator. ..."
From the abstract:
"The manufacture and use of tools, while widespread in terrestrial animals, has been less frequently reported in marine taxa. In cetaceans, clear examples of tool use are largely restricted to foraging contexts, with no reports of cetaceans fashioning tools by modifying objects. Here, we report evidence of the widespread manufacture and use of allogrooming tools in a population of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca ater)."
Killer whales make seaweed ‘tools’ to scratch each other’s backs (original news release)
Figure 1 Allokelping in southern resident killer whales.
(A) Fashioning kelp stipes for allokelping. (Left) J41 grasps a kelp stalk by the holdfast end and (right) detaches a short segment.
(B) J19 and J51 allokelping with the kelp stipe visible between them (inset).
(C) J56 exhibiting an S-pose while allokelping with J57 (inverted).
(D) J pod allokelping network. Nodes (circles/squares) represent individuals, while edge (lines) thickness indicates the observed rate of allokelping.
Grey polygons demarcate matrilines. Node size indicates age, shape indicates sex, and color indicates relative level of skin molting as indicated in the legend. ...
Rachel E. John, one of the study authors
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