Sperm whales may team up to herd prey
Data recorders yield first hints of coordinated feeding behavior
By Sid Perkins
PORTLAND — Sperm whales sometimes collaborate when they forage the depths, new tracking data suggest, with some individuals herding prey into dense schools while others lunge into the fray and feed.
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Scientists have long known that sperm whales, like many other toothed whales, form long-lasting social groups that typically consist of females and their young. While some researchers have suggested that the females in such groups collaboratively raise their young, the new data are the first to hint that the whales may engage in tag-team hunting. Bruce Mate, director of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute in Newport reported February 22 at the American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences meeting.
In 2007 and 2008, Mate and his colleagues tagged sperm whales in the Gulf of California with a new type of data-gathering sensor. These hockey-puck-size instruments included a Global Positioning System receiver, which gathered data when the creatures were at the ocean’s surface, and other sensors that recorded water depth. In essence, Mate said, the instruments are flight data recorders for whales.