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https://theconversation.com/for-generations-killer-whales-and-first-nations-hunted-whales-together-now-we-suspect-the-orca-group-has-gone-extinct-213556>
"For generations, the Thaua people worked with killer whales to hunt large
whales in the water of Twofold Bay, on the southern coast of New South Wales.
Killer whales – commonly known as orcas – would herd their giant prey into
shallower waters where hunters could spear them. Humans would get the meat, but
the killer whales wanted a delicacy – the tongue.
After colonists dispossessed the Thaua, Europeans began capitalising on this
longstanding partnership. From around 1844, commercial whalers worked with
employed Thaua and killer whales to hunt these giants. The pods of killer
whales would find a prized baleen whale, herd it closer to shore and signal the
whalers, who lived in the town of Eden.
The partnership has no parallel anywhere in the world: the top predator of the
oceans working with the top predator on land.
One killer whale, Old Tom, became legendary due to his active role in the hunts
for at least three decades. He was seven metres long and weighed six tonnes.
In 1930, he was found dead at a local beach – the last of his group in Eden.
You can see his body preserved in Eden’s Killer Whale Museum. But questions
have lingered. Do Old Tom’s descendants still roam the oceans, or did they die
out?
Our new research suggests these famous killer whales are likely to be extinct."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
