We don’t have that many killer whales in the Ozarks, none would be the correct number, but women of the Ozarks share a phenomenon with orcas – actually, several phenomena.
Women stop reproducing in their 40s or 50s, but live decades longer than that. Same with female orcas and belugas and pilot whales.
Why? Why is it that only human females and whale females have enduring relationships with their descendants? Elephants kind of do, but that’s because they give birth their entire lives until they just drop dead.
Scientists studied this. For 40 years. They came to an agreement called “the grandmother effect.”
Doting killer whale grandmothers protect their grandcalves by helping them find food, especially in times of scarcity. Grandmother whales show their grandcalves how to forage when there aren’t enough Chinook salmon to eat. They share their food with the young whales. They organize the calves, take them on adventures, and teach them what they know. They take the pressure off mama whale.
So the real answer to why whale and human and grandmothers are alike is, “Babysitting.”
Pic from creatoivecommons.org