"You will never find what you are not looking for." This Confucius quotation is something science proves and disproves every day. To describe such discoveries, a new term was even coined: "serendipity" − the ability to recognize the value of an unexpected finding. The word has become so widespread it sometimes borders on cliché. However, the study published by a British-American team on June 26 in the journal Current Biology is a textbook example. It also highlights the value of long-term, systematic observation of animal populations.

The Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, has spent nearly 50 years monitoring a population of orcas known as the "southern residents." Ranging between US and Canadian waters in the Salish Sea, these ocean giants are perhaps the best-studied marine mammals in the world. "We can identify every individual and know how they're all maternally related, and yet we are still learning new things as we continue to study them," said Rachel John, a master's student at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, who co-authored the article and is researching these 80 cetaceans.

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