Holy crap - that's totally what happened. Fascinating...
"[Killer whale nicknamed] Old Tom's role was commonly to alert the human whalers to the presence of a baleen whale in the bay by breaching or tailslapping at the mouth of the Kiah River, which is one of the smallest rivers... This role endeared him to the whalers and led to the idea that he was “leader of the pack,” although such a role was more likely taken by a female (as is typical among killer whales)".
Too bad the humans fucked it up by breaking the deal:
>Old Tom forced a small whale to the surface, where Davidson harpooned it.[1] Because he wanted to get off the water before a storm arrived, Logan attempted to bring the carcass ashore without Old Tom eating the tongue and lips.[9] Old Tom apparently grabbed the tow rope in his mouth and lost some teeth in the struggle,[7] with Brooks recounting that Logan said "Oh God, what have I done?" when he realised that Old Tom had lost teeth.[1]
>When Old Tom's corpse washed ashore in 1930, the mouth had abscesses from missing teeth and he may have died of starvation.[7][9][1]
it really sickens me how much pain humans bring to the world through selfishness. i had heard of the cooperation story and old tom before, but not the conditions of this particular incident and his death. it seems the orcas in his pod disappeared after being hunted by whalers soon after, according to the wiki article.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_New_S...