A man by the name of Chris Wilton recorded four Orca beach wales rubbing their bodies against the soft stones on the beach. He has posted the video, which you can see on this page as well, on Youtube, The Orca Network on Facebook, and has also shared it with its fans so they can see this rare but miraculous and awesome body rubbing done by the Orca’s in the sea. The video was shot in B.C. Canada. According to a report by The Bellingham Herald on Feb. 4, the body rubbing that Orca’s do is believed by scientists to be a cultural tradition among them.
According to Jackie Hildering who has a blog titled, ‘The Marine Detective,’ she and a few other researchers even recognized some of the whales who were rubbing their bodies all over the stones near the shallow water. She also recognized members of a northern resident pod. This is what she had to say about the Orca’s rubbing behavior that was caught on video:
Absolutely remarkable footage of northern resident orcas with their culturally unique behaviour of rubbing themselves on beaches like this.
According to a report by ECanadaNow, many of the onlookers who looked on in disbelief said that the Orca’s probably like this body rubbing on the soft stones because it may feel similar to a body massage that people get and enjoy.
Although killer whales are found all over the world, these northern resident Orcas are the only ones who do this body rubbing on the beach. This is why this video that was caught by amateur videographer, Chris Wilton, is so rare. Watch it now on this page to see these Orcas in action!
