Post-menopausal killer whales defend their sons from aggressors, study finds
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent from Science | The Guardian on (#6D4PM)
Males show fewer tooth-rake marks when mothers are present and have stopped breeding, research shows
Post-menopausal killer whales protect their sons from getting injured in fights with other whales, scientists have found.
The study showed that males showed fewer tooth-rake marks - scars left when whales scrape their teeth across another's skin - when their mother was still present and had stopped breeding. But the protective effect did not extend to daughters.
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