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October 22, 2010

Strange But True!

Q. Of all the hungry creatures of the high seas, which ones just might have the best table manners?

A. Those caring, sharing “false killer whales,” as they've been dubbed — they're actually dolphins — whose table manners put ours to shame, says Jocelyn Kaiser in Science magazine. Once they've caught a fish, each whale politely takes a bite, then passes it on to another. And if there's a human nearby, he or she will be offered some, too. Dan McSweeney of the Wild Whale Research Foundation in Hawaii once had a large tuna “handed” to him by a 5-meter-long false killer whale. “I pushed it back,” said McSweeney. “He took it and started chewing on it and then left. It was one of those magical moments.” Their compulsive food sharing is a trait that has endeared Hawaii's false killer whales to whale watchers and divers.


 
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