Humpback Whales Nurture Long Friendships

By David Bois, Tonic

We’ve long known them to be highly intelligent and at-least somewhat social creatures. But a surprising set of results from studies conducted by Canada’s Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS) indicates that humpback whales are capable of forming social bonds (for lack of a better term, let’s call them friendships) that are reestablished annually and maintained over periods of several years.

News of the discovery is reported by BBC, which indicates that patterns of protracted social bonds have been observed in some species of toothed whales as well as in the bottlenose dolphin, but whales of the baleen variety such as the humpback have not been understood to form and maintain such linkages before now. The research, currently published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, was undertaken by Christian Ramp and MICS colleagues along with contributions from scientists visiting from Germany and Sweden. The research group tracks the migratory movements and behaviors of several whale species, having crafted an observational database that stretches back three decades.

As BBC reports, the researchers relied upon photographic identification to keep tabs on individual humpbacks as they would return to the Gulf of St. Lawrence for summer feeding. While the humpbacks would disperse during the rest of the year living in relative isolation to breed and birth calves, the summer period finds the same individual whales getting together, spending time in each other’s company, swimming and feeding. The MICS team finds that these bonds tend to be expressed among females who are approximately the same age, and the longest-lived bonds found so far to exist between individual whales goes back six years.

Precisely how the whales recognize each other, whether through visual or auditory clues, is uncertain although the latter is strongly suspected to explain how they find each other after several months apart. Nor is it known what evolutionary purpose is served by the social bonds, although the researchers note that the whales who are observed to have and maintain consistent social ties with other whales tended to birth more calves than average. Improved efficiency of feeding that is allowed by banding together appears to be an additional benefit Dr. Ramp tells BBC:

“Staying together for a prolonged period of time requires a constant effort. That means that they feed together, but likely also rest together. So an individual is adapting its behaviour [sic] to another one.”

Photo by NOAA via Wikimedia Commons

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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2:00AM PDT on May 3, 2013

very interesting,thank you for sharing

May 3
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Lisa E.

11:39AM PDT on Aug 26, 2012

interesting

August 26
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Muriel S.

3:10PM PDT on Jul 22, 2012

Interesting.

July 22
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Past Member .

3:55PM PDT on Jul 6, 2012

Interesting!!

July 6
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Kenneth D.

11:08AM PDT on Mar 12, 2012

Good news. Proves we do not know it all and have a duty of care

March 12
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Michele W.

3:35AM PST on Dec 2, 2011

Interesting.
Thank you

December 2
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David N.

1:34PM PST on Jan 11, 2011

Thanks for the article. It's nice to read a heart warming article.

January 11
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leyna s.

5:18PM PST on Dec 2, 2010

Amazing! noted

Christa S.

5:42AM PST on Dec 1, 2010

Hmm, I didn't know that. :)

December 1
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Leni P.

6:13AM PDT on Oct 16, 2010

Organizations like SETI spend time looking for intelligence on other worlds. However, if we can't respect and communicate with other sentient lifeforms on our own planet, how could we expect to communicate with something more alien? Instead we exploit these wonderful beings. It would be exciting to try to communicate with whales.