20.01.2023 – It takes a village

Our guests enjoyed a lovely sighting of Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) aboard our traditional boat this morning! These peaceful toothed whales move in stable matriarchal groups, where females work as a team and cooperate to raise the younger members of the pod. Pilot whale pods are thought to each possess their own “culture”, so their own set of behaviours and characteristics that is unique to their group. Families are even thought to each communicate in a different dialect. 

Such group characteristics are passed on down to the younger generations and this shared responsibility is also extended to protecting and suckling the calves. Pilot whale females often dive in shifts, some remaining with the young and others plunging into the dark ocean to hunt. After resurfacing from their foraging dives, the females rest and monitor the calves so that their previous babysitters may forage too. Nursing is also a joint venture and older animals are not exempt from this. Older infertile individuals have also been documented nursing the young of their pod members.

It’s wonderful to watch these animals help each other in raising the younger generation and the aspect is absolutely visible during a sighting. Todays little calves swam from female to female and received the same amount of supervision and care. Well, you know what they say; it takes a village to raise a child!

By Paula Thake 

Sightings of the day

09:30 Short-finned pilot whales