Orcas’ Bizarre Beauty Routine Captured for the First Time

We already knew orcas were smart. Now we know they might be a little vain, too. Scientists just documented orcas carefully crafting kelp tools to give each other full-body rubdowns at sea.

The behavior is called “allokelping,” and it looks a lot like a floating massage. Pairs of orcas were seen snapping off bits of kelp and rolling them between their bodies as they swam, like a slow-motion exfoliation session. In one case, a whale grabbed kelp already floating in a mat. But most of the time, they made their own.

“We quickly started seeing whales carrying these small pieces of kelp and pressing them between each other,” said marine zoologist Michael Weiss of the Center for Whale Research. “Once we’d observed several pairs doing this behavior on multiple days, we knew something interesting was going on.”

Tool use in ocean animals is rare. Tool manufacturing is even rarer. Scientists have seen dolphins use sea sponges to protect their snouts while foraging, but this grooming behavior is something else entirely. It’s deliberate. It’s social. And it’s possibly cultural—something passed down among this specific pod.

Orcas’ Underwater Beauty Routine Documented for the First Time

The orcas studied live in the Salish Sea and belong to a critically endangered population of fewer than 80 individuals. Unlike whales that rub themselves on rocks or roll through kelp forests solo, these whales work in pairs. They press the kelp between their skin and glide together, potentially sloughing off dead skin or parasites in hard-to-reach places.

But grooming may not be the only goal. Weiss thinks it might also be a bonding ritual. “It certainly does appear to be a social activity,” he said, noting that it could reinforce relationships the same way grooming does in primates.

That kind of behavior matters, especially in animals already known for complex communication, group hunting strategies, and strong family ties. It shows orcas finding new ways to care for themselves and stay connected.

And while this pod has been studied since the 1970s, allokelping didn’t show up until researchers started using high-resolution drones. Now, it’s clear these whales have been up to something clever all along. We just hadn’t looked closely enough.