Orcas are spotted SNOGGING in the wild for the first time – and they even use tongues

With their fearsome hunting abilities and habit of playing catch with baby seals, orcas have not earned the nickname ‘killer whales’ for nothing.

But a surprising new study now shows that orcas have a softer, possibly even romantic, side.

A pair of orcas has been spotted kissing in the wild for the first time – and they even use tongues.

The video shows the pair of French-kissing killer whales gently biting each other’s tongues for almost two minutes before parting and swimming away.

In a paper published in the journal Oceans, the researchers describe ‘repeated episodes of gentle, face-to-face oral contact’.

The strange behaviour was spotted by a group of nature tourists on a snorkelling trip in the Kvænangen fjords in Norway, about 68 miles (109 kilometres) northeast of Tromsø.

This behaviour, referred to as ‘tongue nibbling’ by scientists, has been seen before in captive whales but never amongst orcas in the wild.

Scientists still aren’t sure why orcas might engage in this kissing-like activity, but it could be a form of social bonding or play between these highly intelligent animals.

In an incredible video, scientists have spotted orcas kissing for the first time in the wild 

In the video, the orcas engage in three bouts of mouth touching, lasting about 20 seconds each.

During these ‘kisses’, one orca extends its tongue as the other gently bites down.

Study author Dr Javier Almunia told MailOnline: ‘The behaviour colloquially referred to as “kissing” in killer whales is extraordinarily rare.

‘It was first described in 1978 in individuals under human care, but remained virtually undocumented for decades. The first video evidence was obtained in 2013 at Loro Parque, providing the initial opportunity to analyse the behaviour in detail.’

However, since these observations were made in captivity, they are of very little scientific value.

When observing animals in captivity, it is extremely difficult to tell which behaviours are natural and which have been produced by their stressful and unnatural environment.

According to Dr Almunia, these observations show that tongue nibbling is a natural behaviour retained by orcas in captivity.

Many animals in the wild are known to engage in mouth contact as a form of social interaction, such as chimpanzees which press their lips together as a greeting. 

Two orcas were seen engaging in ‘gentle, face-to-face oral contact’ and gently biting each other’s tongues in a practice known as tongue nibbling 

The wild orcas kissed for almost two minutes before parting and swimming away 

The researchers don’t currently know why orcas kiss in this way, but they point out that it has a strong similarity to behaviours seen in beluga whales. 

Young beluga whales are known to engage in tongue nibbling, which is believed to help strengthen social bonds.

Dr Almunia says: ‘It is plausible that tongue nibbling in orcas serves a social or affiliative function similar to oral contact behaviours observed in other mammals.

‘Tongue nibbling in orcas is believed to be a form of socio-sexual or affiliative behaviour, serving a function analogous to grooming or other tactile interactions observed in social mammals.’

The researchers suggest that it could even be a ‘trend’ of play among some orcas to help train social and motor skills among young orcas.

Orcas are known to adopt trending forms of behaviour which spread from community to community and can reemerge after long periods of absence. 

Last year, scientists observed orcas wearing dead salmon as ‘hats’ in a bizarre fashion that had not been seen since the 1980s. 

Dr Luke Rendel, a marine biologist at the University of St Andrews, suggests that this could be a ‘soothing’ response to high-stress environments.

This behaviour has been seen in captive orcas in the past, but never before in wild populations 

This might explain why it occurs regularly in captivity and only once in the wild.

However, without more thorough research, it is very difficult to say exactly why orcas kiss or why this behaviour is so rare.

While these findings are fascinating, the researchers’ methods have also drawn strong criticism.

While Dr Almunia and his co-authors claim that the video was taken by ‘citizen scientists’, these were actually tourists on a swim-with-whales trip.

Dr Luke Rendel, a marine biologist at the University of St Andrews, calls this a ‘poor cover for harassing animals in the wild’.

There is strong evidence to suggest that the presence of tourists and tourist boats causes ‘significant risks to wild populations’, triggering altered behaviour, psychological stress, and disruptions to group cohesion.

Dr Rendle adds that the researchers also made ‘no quantification of this behaviour and little attempt to do the hard work analyses that might give us some better insights as to why they do it.’

Instead, Dr Rendle points out that this paper is more concerned with arguing that it is legitimate to keep orcas in captivity and observe them from tourist boats.

Scientists say the behaviour could be a trending form of play among orcas, similar to when wild groups started wearing dead fish on their heads as ‘hats’ last year 

Dr Almunia says that these findings reinforce ‘the notion that orcas under human care can retain a wide range of affiliative and socio-affective behaviours, including those that are rare or cryptic and thus difficult to observe even in natural settings.’

Likewise, the paper stresses the point that orcas in human captivity should be considered ‘valuable models for investigating naturally occurring social dynamics.’ 

However, Dr Rendle argues that even genuine scientific observations can ‘never be a justification for captivity for a species like this’.  

Dr Rendle says: ‘Make no mistake, this is a for-profit business trying to obscure the ethical issues with its existence by providing really quite lame studies like this.’

‘If animals are in captivity for other reasons, it can be better to learn something from them while they are there, but it can never be a justification for captivity for a species like this – everything we learn about them in captivity tells us more and more that they never should be there.’