To: Journey North
From: Anne Smrcina
Stellwagen Bank National
Marine Sanctuary
Here is the article from the Maui News about competitive behaviors which I mentioned in my March 20, 1996 Humpback Whale Migration Update. Maui News has given us permission to include this article.
Copyright 1996. Maui News. All rights reserved. The following news article may not be republished or distributed in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the Maui News.
2/11/96
Humpback dies in apparent battle for a mate
Second whale spotted by researchers seemed to guard fallen
comrade by
Timothy Hurley, staff writer
Lahaina - Researchers on Friday got a rare close-up look at a male humpback whale that apparently died while battling with others for a female.
"It can get rough out there, but I've never seen the violence escalate to the point of death," said Adam Pack, research coordinator with the Hawaiian Whale Research Foundation, the Dolphin Institute and the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory.
Researchers were also puzzled as they watched another unusual phenomenon: A male humpback seemed to be guarding the dead whale, wrapping its pectoral fins around the carcass and pushing it to the surface as if trying to right a fallen comrade.
"I would give my eyeteeth to know what was going on," said Dan Salden, director of the Hawaii Whale Research Foundation.
The death apparently occurred after 1:30 p.m. Friday as the Linwa II cruise boat was tracking what appeared to be a typical competitive pod of four male humpbacks vying to mate with a female about 1 1/2 miles off Lahaina.
One of the whales went belly-up and, after realizing something was wrong, the Linwa crew summoned the research vessels.
When the researchers arrived, the whale was lying on its left side. Its blow hole was shut, its eyes and mouth were open, and the baleen plates (which filter the humpbacks food) were hanging out.
"Something was wrong with this picture," Pack said.
Researchers videotaped the animal from below the surface and found no cuts, no broken limbs, no signs of disease and no clues to how it died. Salden said he wouldn't rule out cardiac arrest.
Such surface-active or competitive pods are common during Maui's whale season, when males give chase to a female in a battle to become the female's primary escort. But researchers said they had yet to see one end up in such a death.
What's perhaps more puzzling is what happened after the death. Pack said that from out of the depths another male surfaced and approached the dead whale from the back. It then repeatedly put its pectoral fins around the dead whale and pressed its genital region against the dead whale's tail stock, Pack said.
The whale would swim deep and return to repeat the ritual, doing it at an increasing frequency as the afternoon wore on.
Salden said it appeared as if the live whale was trying to raise the dead one to the surface. It also seemed to keep guard on the dorsal side of the whale, keeping the researchers far back on that side.
Salden, who studies the social network of humpback whales, said his guess was that the whale was expressing genuine care-giving.
"I don't think any of us out there weren't touched by it," Salden said.
Pack said it could have been an attempt to help the whale, or the actions may have been sexual in nature.
"Who knows what was going through the mind of the live whale?" he said.
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