Whales and dolphins' friendships caught on camera
Griffith University scientists analysed 199 videos and photos of interactions between baleen whales and dolphins around the world, many captured by drones, tourists, and citizen scientists shared online.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Whales and dolphins caught playing
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In many clips, dolphins were seen bow-riding, rubbing against the whales, and even diving with them to the ocean floor.
Some encounters resembled courtship or play, while a few whales appeared irritated, especially during feeding.
But in a third of the interactions, whales — particularly humpbacks — responded with what researchers called 'positive social behaviours.'
'We found that in a third of the interactions, particularly with humpback whales, the behaviour could be described as positive — rolling, belly presentation and slow, gentle movements,' said lead researcher Dr Olaf Meynecke.
In most cases, dolphins initiated the contact, often approaching the whales' heads and appearing to seek eye contact.
New research has found dolphin and whale friendships may be more common and more complex than we thought.
Credit: 7NEWS
Dr Olaf Meynecke is leading the study of the Griffith University analysing drone footage including of tourist shared on social media.
Credit: 7NEWS
'The predominant dolphin position was near the whale's rostrum (the head) where 80 per cent of the interactions took place,' the paper reports.
Some dolphins were even seen touching or being lifted by whales suggesting the behaviour wasn't just incidental.
Still, not every encounter was friendly.
The study observed defensive actions by whales, including tail slaps and surface trumpeting, especially during moments of feeding or competition.
The team gathered social media footage spanning two decades, calling it an 'invaluable' tool for tracking rare marine behaviour in the wild.
Especially humpbacks seemed to enjoy the attention of the dolphins, often rolling, showing their bellies and gently approaching the dolphins, a study showed.
Credit: 7NEWS
In many cases, dolphins were seen bow-riding and rubbing up against the whales, even diving with them to the ocean floor.
Credit: 7NEWS
'Social media can help fill knowledge gaps traditional research may miss,' the paper noted.
However, researchers stressed caution when interpreting marine mammal intent.
The study, published in Discover Animals, offers a rare glimpse into the complex social lives of whales and dolphins hinting at a world of interspecies friendship, play, and cooperation yet to be fully understood.
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7NEWS
a day ago
- 7NEWS
Whales and dolphins' friendships caught on camera
New research suggests dolphins and whales may have playful relationships far more often than we thought. Griffith University scientists analysed 199 videos and photos of interactions between baleen whales and dolphins around the world, many captured by drones, tourists, and citizen scientists shared online. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Whales and dolphins caught playing Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today In many clips, dolphins were seen bow-riding, rubbing against the whales, and even diving with them to the ocean floor. Some encounters resembled courtship or play, while a few whales appeared irritated, especially during feeding. But in a third of the interactions, whales — particularly humpbacks — responded with what researchers called 'positive social behaviours.' 'We found that in a third of the interactions, particularly with humpback whales, the behaviour could be described as positive — rolling, belly presentation and slow, gentle movements,' said lead researcher Dr Olaf Meynecke. In most cases, dolphins initiated the contact, often approaching the whales' heads and appearing to seek eye contact. New research has found dolphin and whale friendships may be more common and more complex than we thought. Credit: 7NEWS Dr Olaf Meynecke is leading the study of the Griffith University analysing drone footage including of tourist shared on social media. Credit: 7NEWS 'The predominant dolphin position was near the whale's rostrum (the head) where 80 per cent of the interactions took place,' the paper reports. Some dolphins were even seen touching or being lifted by whales suggesting the behaviour wasn't just incidental. Still, not every encounter was friendly. The study observed defensive actions by whales, including tail slaps and surface trumpeting, especially during moments of feeding or competition. The team gathered social media footage spanning two decades, calling it an 'invaluable' tool for tracking rare marine behaviour in the wild. Especially humpbacks seemed to enjoy the attention of the dolphins, often rolling, showing their bellies and gently approaching the dolphins, a study showed. Credit: 7NEWS In many cases, dolphins were seen bow-riding and rubbing up against the whales, even diving with them to the ocean floor. Credit: 7NEWS 'Social media can help fill knowledge gaps traditional research may miss,' the paper noted. However, researchers stressed caution when interpreting marine mammal intent. The study, published in Discover Animals, offers a rare glimpse into the complex social lives of whales and dolphins hinting at a world of interspecies friendship, play, and cooperation yet to be fully understood.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Whales and dolphins play and communicate with each other, study finds
A crowd-sourced international science project has revealed whales and dolphins playing and communicating with each other across the species divide. Researchers from Queensland's Griffith University said the "joyful" interactions seen in hundreds of citizen science videos could also play an important role in whale and dolphin conservation. "These are highly intelligent animals and just like humans, they need creative times, they need times when their brain is in a relaxed mode," said lead author and researcher at Griffith University's whales and climate program, Olaf Meynecke. With few oceanic animals to interact with, he said the opportunity for whales and dolphins to play could ultimately benefit their development and longevity. "Play behaviour in the events described in our study may facilitate an individual's ability to cultivate relationships, offer sensory stimulation and contribute to the overall wellbeing," he said. During the six-month project, Dr Meynecke and colleague Olivia Crawley searched social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for footage of interactions between whales and dolphins over the past 20 years. Only videos with an identifiable owner and location were included, and duplicate videos were discarded. The 197 videos from 17 different countries, mostly from the United States and Australia, showed interactions between six types of whales and 13 dolphin species. As described in the peer-reviewed study published on Tuesday in Discover Animals journal, dolphins were frequently seen engaging with whales in one-sided play, such as riding the bow wave in front of the whale. But in around one-third of all the interactions, the whale responded positively by rolling from side to side, presenting its belly and moving slowly towards the dolphins. Dr Meynecke said in one extreme interaction in Hawaii, a whale used its head to slowly lift a dolphin out of the water. "The theory is that it either might have been the female humpback whale caregiving for this particular dolphin, or it was just really a joyful interaction," he said. Throughout the nearly 200 pieces of footage, researchers found that the whales and dolphins would often maintain close visual contact, and on eight occasions they touched each other. "[Touching] only happens between relatives like a mum and a calf," Dr Meynecke said. The mutual fascination could stem from the close evolutionary relationship between whales and dolphins, both members of the cetacean order of marine mammals. "I think there is obviously some form of recognition that this is … another living being with similar behaviours, and so maybe that triggers a stronger connection," Dr Meynecke said. "Of course, we don't know this, but at least from us humans, we do feel a much stronger connection to species that are evolutionarily closer to us." And just as in play with humans, the joyful interactions between whales and dolphins could serve a serious purpose in their development. "There could be a deeper reason behind this interaction that actually benefits both the whales and the dolphins for their wellbeing and developing new techniques and connections," Dr Meynecke said. "It might well play a role in their overall survival." Wally Franklin is a marine scientist with the Oceania Project and adjunct fellow of the University of the Sunshine Coast, and has been studying humpback whales in Hervey Bay for 30 years. He was not involved in the Griffith University study, but said he had often seen dolphins and whales interacting in a way that "could be described as playful". "There's no doubt that the whales respond in a very positive fashion to the presence of the dolphins," he said. Dr Franklin said the interactions between the whales and dolphins could be heard as well as seen. "[The Griffith University paper] looks like a very important piece of research which is documenting something that we experience pretty well every day here while we're whale watching in Hervey Bay." In future research, Dr Meynecke plans to investigate whether whales and dolphins are communicating with each other through the whistles, clicks and groans heard alongside their interactions. "We are pretty certain that they're able to hear each other, but whether there is actual communication happening that is maybe not possible [to determine]," he said. "But at least they would talk about each other within [each species]. Just capturing the frequencies being used would be extremely valuable."
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Revealed: How playful whales and dolphins socialise with each other
Rolling from side to side, presenting their bellies, and even lifting their dolphin playmate into the air are some of the ways that whales socialise with their smaller cousins, a new study finds. The Australian research looking at images and video from 17 locations around the world challenges previous scientific assumptions that dolphins 'harassed' whales, finding instead that the play was often mutual. Griffith University whales and climate program lead Dr Olaf Meynecke and co-author Olivia Crawley analysed nearly 200 separate and unrelated interactions between 425 baleen whales and 1570 dolphins. Their findings were published in the journal, Discover Animals, on Tuesday. 'When we go out and do our whale surveys or tagging whales, we always joke that we can find the whales by looking for the dolphins,' Meynecke said. 'Whales that show a lot of active behaviours seem to get the most interest from the dolphins.' Meynecke said the dolphins, being faster swimmers, usually initiated the encounters, but the whales responded either positively or neutrally most of the time. Across all whale species, at least a quarter of the interactions were mutual, and for humpback whales it was at least a third. It was rare that the whale would try to avoid the dolphin or become aggressive. Most of the documented interactions were between adult animals, but a whale calf was present in 44 events and a dolphin calf in 53 events. Both whale and dolphin calves were present on 21 occasions. There were six different whale species in the dataset – more than two-thirds were humpbacks, followed by grey whales (16 per cent) and fin whales (7 per cent). More than half the dolphins were bottlenose, followed by common dolphins (17 per cent) and Pacific wide-sided dolphins (15 per cent).
