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Superb sounds!!
Amazingly, it has been a full month since Yukusam, the Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) first showed up in Johnstone Strait. He is still here moving back and forth, up and down Johnstone Strait. A lot of his time has been in range of our hydrophone network and Lisa, at OrcaLab, has been recording any and every time she has heard his clicks whether day or night. This has been an incredible effort. Quite sure no one expected the need for such an intense and sustained effort during the usually more uneventful winter months. But thanks to Lisa’s effort we have a pretty complete record of Yukusam’s presence. On several occasions, after being alerted that Yukusam was present, Jared Towers made the effort to observe and document him directly. These observations have been so valuable and have provided information on Yukusam’s size (between 40 and 45 feet), condition (he looks robust) and behaviours. Lisa has been fortunate to go out twice with Jared. As Yukusam’s patterns of travel, diving and respirations became better understood it became possible, on occasion, for the OrcaLab remote cameras to follow his progress. Most of these videos are distant and brief but it has been exciting to locate his “bushy” breaths in the expanse of Johnstone Strait. Once, Yukusam surfaced as he approached Robson Bight and the camera was able to follow his progress through several respirations. Jared was following and when he later reviewed the video he was able to gauge Yukusam’s length by comparing it to the known length of his boat. As this event has unfolded there have been several consultations. Hervé Glotin, (Univ. Toulon & CNRS LIS, Data Science & Bioacoustics, sabiod.org/EADM, DYNI) and his lab have been analyzing Yukusam’s clicks, “creaks” and “clangs”. From the early recordings sent to him, Prof Glotin’s initial concern was that Yukusam was not spending enough time feeding. He is hoping to provide more detail through his access to OrcaLab’s full audio live stream. Elizabeth Zwamborn, who is a former OrcaLab assistant and currently a PhD student at Prof Hal Whitehead’s lab at Dalhousie University has offered her experiences and knowledge of Sperm whales. She has both looked at several recordings sent to her and consulted with her colleagues at the lab. Jared has also consulted with his Sperm whale contacts to gain information about lone sperm whale occurrences in like ‘inside water’ situations. Sperm whales in high latitudes are normally found off shore but there have been a few incidences where they have been found in inner waters where they stayed for up to two months before moving on. It has been very difficult to determine definitively whether Yukusam is successfully foraging. Johnstone Strait is a deep canyon where there are some possible resources for Yukusam. His behaviours suggest fitness. His dives average around 35-40 minutes and that has not so far changed. He ranges quite far although he has shown a preference to the stretch from Naka Creek to Hidden Cove just past Telegraph Cove. His body shows no sign of deterioration so far. We remain cautiously optimistic and completely captivated! https://soundcloud.com/user-361819329/180305131938-1h29m17s
OrcaLab
11 Mar 2018 15:29:33 PDT |
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