If orcas live for decades, have memories, and have language, then they're telling each other stories about us. The Southern Resident Killer Whales are down to 70+ beings. They've probably figured out by now that humans are the ones responsible for their food supply getting decimated. I suspect orcas everywhere are trying to figure out ways to communicate with us and are doing an amazing job.
They probably haven't accounted for human denial and human-centric science. These two things lead to scientists being like "Gee! I wonder why they're parading their dead babies and carrying them around? They must be grieving!"
As opposed to a slightly more realistic interpretation:
"They must be grieving and are trying to tell us 'See what you're doing to us?'"
By the way, the solution to their food supply issue is to breach the dams on the Snake River that are mostly only staying online to sustain the jobs of the people working on them. The salmon that spawns on the river saw its numbers plummet and have remained low ever since....for decades.
Yeah, looking for the simplest biological explanation, shortcirtuiting having to recognize life, is incredibly demeaning. Reminds me of the whole "babies/animals can't feel pain" thing. Sure, they act like they're hurt, but how do we know that's not just triggered responses to stimuli? FFS.
They probably haven't accounted for human denial and human-centric science. These two things lead to scientists being like "Gee! I wonder why they're parading their dead babies and carrying them around? They must be grieving!"
As opposed to a slightly more realistic interpretation:
"They must be grieving and are trying to tell us 'See what you're doing to us?'"