Behavior and Acoustics of Whales and the Threats Whales Face
- ShareHere for Roger Payne’s talk on whale behaviour & acoustics bit.ly/wA4o10 #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- ShareThe rorquals (Balaenoptera) - blue, fin, minke, sei and Bryde’s whales are an example of adaptive radiation #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareRoger Payne has suggested that blue and fin whales may be able to communicate across oceans. #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- ShareNoise from shipping traffic has unfortunately reduced the ability of whales to communicate across great distances #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareHumpback whales produce a rhythmic, repeated sound, hence some of their calls are defined as ‘songs’ #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareHumpback whale songs can last 15-20 minutes, longest song recorded was more than 30 minutes. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThere’s always something haunting about hearing the songs of humpback whales. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareA humpback whale song has on average 3-5 ‘themes’, up to 10 themes, and these songs include rhyme. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThe right whale study off Patagonia has tracked 2000 individuals, and is currently looking at the 5th generation of whales #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareSouthern right whales live so close to the coast that you can sit on the beach and observe them. #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- ShareClose-up photo of right whale head shows hairs sprouting from the chin; hairs also grow on the callosities. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThe callosities of right whales are colonised by dense concentrations of cyamid crustaceans (whale lice) #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareEvery species of whale has its own unique species of cyamids #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- Share
- ShareStudies of cyamids have helped establish that there is no differentiation among subpopulations within southern hemisphere #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareHow to distinguish between sexes: Males often have more callosities along the lower lip than the females. #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- ShareBesides callosities on the head and the scratches on the back, right whales can also be identified from white belly patch #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareRight whales, which fast while nursing their young, break up play between calves so as to avoid expending too much energy #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThe right whales love to play with objects in the water, such as seaweed. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareRoger Payne shares about some fascinating behaviour displayed by mother right whales and their calves #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareRight whales communicate a lot using tail-slapping and breaching, such behaviour increases in windier conditions #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareRight whales actually lift their tails out of the water, allowing the wind to blow them along. Whales can sail! #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareWhales engage in behaviour likened to sailing! They prop their tails at right angles to the wind direction for >20mins. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareRight whales allow gulls to remove sunburnt skin, but a larger species of gull actually pecks and bites the whale’s flesh #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThe gulls create large painful wounds; 30% of the whales’ time is spent avoiding gulls #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThe threat of fishing gear: many whales get entangled in ropes and nets #WhaleswithPayne null null
- ShareAnother threat comes from pollutants, which accumulate in the whales’ bodies. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareCalves end up absorbing pollutants from their mothers’ milk, with possible adverse consequences #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- Share
- Share
- ShareSperm whale blubber carries pollutants such as PCBs, DDT and Hexachlorobenzene #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareContaminants (PCBs, DDTs etc.) found in water bodies disrupt endocrine f(x) in whales & affect their reproductive ability. #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareEven blubber from regions like the Sea of Cortez & Galapagos have amounts of pollutants comparable with the Mediterranean. #WhaleswithPayne
- Share“Chromium levels (>10 micro molar) in sperm whale cells reach levels that damage DNA.” #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- ShareFlame retardants (PBDEs) are another pollutant detected in sperm whale blubber, above human safety levels #WhaleswithPayne
- Share
- Sharehttp://www.pbs.org/odyssey/ Website for the Odyssey expedition #WhaleswithPayne
Q&A session
- ShareRoger Payne’s team is now looking at the spread of oil & dispersants from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThe inevitable point about whaling: accumulation of pollutants is a very sound argument against consumption of whale meat #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareHow politics affects science: Suppressing knowledge of persistence of oil & dispersants (US) #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareAlso, stopping news about high concentrations of pollutants in whale meat from reaching the public (Japan) #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareThe tail is an effective weapon in protecting calves, especially from orca #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareSome of the right whales of Patagonia have been recorded in their feeding grounds off South Georgia in the Antarctic #WhaleswithPayne
- ShareInteresting point about the hairs in whales - could they have a function similar to the whiskers (vibrassae) in seals? #WhaleswithPayne
