Get ready, the aliens are among us!

These two sperm whales are acting weirdly. What Carl does have onto its head? And why George is wearing a helmet?

Well, because the aliens are among them!

Researchers use those devices, called DTAGs (better shaped in reality, as you may see below). They are equipped with different sensors, including one or more hydrophones, to record the animals' vocalizations. Basically, they are listening to them and discovering interesting facts about their biology and ecology.

This is also part of my career path, as I am shaping my experiences within the bioacoustic world of cetaceans. Of course, it's not possible to really know what they are saying each other, but within decades, researchers managed to find some categories of sounds and associates them with particular behaviours. Thanks to these devices, it has been discovered that the huge head of a sperm whales is used for sound production and how it works (Madsen, P. T. (2002). Sperm Whale Sound Production.). They produce a variety of sounds, including echolocation clicks to feed in the deep ocean, and codas for social communication.

Isn't it so fascinating? For me, this world is irresistible. I found myself always so curious and full of questions. Of course, in particular of sperm whales.

Bottlenose dolphins are crazy: the Christmas party is here (adult content)

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) can be considered perverts and one of the craziest creatures in the ocean.

Usually, they are the image of what's a dolphin in the common vision of people. They are cute, lovely animals you can find in aquariums, playing, jumping, and entertaining the public. They are the clowns (in a nice way) of the sea.

But the reality is never as expected. Reality is cruel. Reality is much worse than what we can think of.

In fact, bottlenose dolphins have been discovered to be drug-addicted. Actually, not all populations share the same vices but it has been reported multiple times. Different individuals have been caught playing with puffer fishes to get high on purpose. Indeed, pufferfishes are part of the family Tetraodontidae, in which the members share the possession of a highly poisonous toxin, the tetrodotoxin. See the funny footage from the BBC below.

But this is not the only weird behaviour they can adopt. Bottlenose dolphins have been reported using different objects and animals, including dead fish and decapitated fish, as a way of giving pleasure to themselves. This applies to both males and females, the latter discovered recently to have also a functional clitoris just as humans do.

______________________________ References

Brennan, P. L., Cowart, J. R., & Orbach, D. N. (2022). Evidence of a functional clitoris in dolphins. Current Biology, 32(1), R24-R26.