Cetaceans behaviours

On a whale and dolphin watching trip with us, the cetaceans that we meet can show different types of behavior. Dolphins often jump all around, some whales can breach or show the tail. Let’s see with this article what you can observe out there on the ocean!

Logging

Logging is when a cetacean is resting at the surface with just its back visible at the surface – looking much like a floating log in the water. This behaviour is typical for the sperm whale, kogiids, pilot whales, orcas and narwhals.

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Bowriding

Bowriding is a behaviour we see in many dolphin species, like common, spotted and bottlenose dolphins. They ride on the wave that the boat creates at the bow, taking a free ride. But we have also seen other dolphin species bowride such as false killer whale and Risso’s dolphin.

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Fluking

Fluking (also known sounding) is when a cetacean dives and shows its fluke/tail above the water. Its typical of the sperm whale when they are going on a deep dive. This is a perfect opportunity for the biologists to take ID photos of the whales.

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Lobtailing

Lobtailing is different from fluking the whale or dolphins is not diving. Rather it is lifting the fluke/tail high in the air and slapping its on the surface, often repeatedly. It can be for fun and play, getting rid of parasites, communication or irritation.

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Breaching

When a whale breaches it leaps almost clear out of the water and lands, often on its side or on its back, with a huge splash. Breaching is thought to have several functions including a form of communicating with other individuals nearby, removing old skin and parasites and even dislodging blockages from their bowels. Breaching is a behaviour displayed by only some whale species (common examples being humpback whales, sperm whales and right whales). It is rare to see a baleen whale, especially the larger species, breach.

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Jumping

Many dolphin species jump or leap, often very high so that the whole body comes out of the water. These jumps can be a way of travelling, a way of communicating with other individuals (especially as courtship behaviour during mating activity), a way for the young ones to learn coordination skills, spying on us humans on the boats or simply a way for the dolphins to have fun.  

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Spyhopping

Spyhopping is when a cetacean lifts its head out of the water. They may do this to see what is above, checking out the surroundings to see surface movements like other individuals jumping or groups of birds, or just spying on us humans.

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Pectoral fin slapping

Pectoral fin slapping is when a cetacean slaps its pectoral fins (the fins at their sides, equivalent to our arms) on the surface of the water, often repeatedly. It is most common to see this in humpback whales (their pectoral fins can reach up to 6 m in length!) but can also be observed in other species.

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Surfing

Many dolphins taken advantage of the power of the waves to surf, maybe as an energy efficient way of travelling, or maybe just for fun. It sure looks fun!

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Running

Running is a behaviour we see with dolphins, very typical for striped dolphins, but also spotted and common. Its a way of travelling very fast constantly leaping out of the water to get more speed.

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