Whales stop being socialites when boats are about

28 Nov 2019
Whale
“Socialising is incredibly important for migrating whales, as healthy social behaviours are closely linked to healthy breeding.”

The noise and presence of boats can harm humpback whales’ ability to communicate and socialise, in some cases reducing their communication range by a factor of four.

The discovery was made by Dr Rebecca Dunlop from The University of Queensland’s Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, who monitored the acoustics and social behaviour of humpback whales off Queensland’s Peregian Beach.

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