Humpback whales, working in teams, circle Herring with confusing bubble curtains off the Alaskan coast, then shoot up from below with their mouths open. This innovation developed among unrelated groups of humps, but has now become a widespread practice. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Humpback whales, working in teams, circle Herring with confusing bubble curtains off the Alaskan coast, then shoot up from below with their mouths open. This innovation developed among unrelated groups of humps, but has now become a widespread practice.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Brian Skerry says it was “the stuff of dreams” to be in the water with a nursing sperm whale.
The National Geographic photographer and explorer dived into the waters of the Caribbean to capture what he thinks is a unique picture. He came within yards to get the shot.
“This was a very trusting mother, a young mother with a baby maybe five or six months old who was breastfeeding at a depth of about 50 feet,” he said. “I approached very gently, just held my breath, swam down. She saw me and then actually closed her eyes. I mean, she was so relaxed that I could enter this world. I was allowed to and could enter her world make these pictures. “
A killer whale or orca hunts herring in a Norwegian fjord. Groups of killer whales (which technically belong to the dolphin family) have different eating habits. Some school corral fish. Others hunt sharks or seals, while others eat salmon almost exclusively. These habits are partly culturally learned behaviors that have been passed on over generations. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
A killer whale or orca hunts herring in a Norwegian fjord. Groups of killer whales (which technically belong to the dolphin family) have different eating habits. Some school corral fish. Others hunt sharks or seals, while others eat salmon almost exclusively. These habits are partly culturally learned behaviors that have been passed on over generations.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
That moment spawned one of several rare images in a new issue of National Geographic magazine, the culmination of Skerry’s three-year project to study whale culture.
“Behavior is what we do. Culture is what we do,” he says, paraphrasing the sperm whale biologist Shane Gero.
In the photos, Skerry compiles examples of whale behavior that appear almost human: belugas play in shallow water, orcas teach their pups to hunt, sperm whales care for and babysit.
Members of a sperm whale family near the Caribbean island of Dominica are part of a clan that is culturally different from others. Each clan communicates in its own dialect of click patterns such as Morse code. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Members of a sperm whale family near the Caribbean island of Dominica are part of a clan that is culturally different from others. Each clan communicates in its own dialect of click patterns such as Morse code.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Sperm whale family units in the eastern Caribbean near Dominica appear to “speak the same dialect as there is no better analogy,” says Skerry. “According to researchers like Shane [Gero], they do not mix with other sperm whales that might move into these waters. “
Humpback whales, known for decades their musical skillsoften and mysteriously change their tunes. Researchers watch new melodies migrate across the seas through populations. Skerry compares the phenomenon to a hit.
“It might sound like a hiccup … or sometimes like a creaking door or a rocking chair or like a woop-woop – you know, these different noises. Then it’s more of a sad, almost melancholy sound that is a little a little more like a song, “he says. “But you remember. I mean, you got it perfect. And what you hear in one place is often exactly what you will hear in another.”
A mother hump and a calf glide over a reef in a bay off Vava’u, Tonga. They had joined a few thousand adult humpback whales to fatten krill in the Antarctic in the summer before returning to the South Pacific for mating season. Along the way, young whales began to mimic adult feeding methods and other behaviors. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
A mother hump and a calf glide over a reef in a bay off Vava’u, Tonga. They had joined a few thousand adult humpback whales to fatten krill in the Antarctic in the summer before returning to the South Pacific for mating season. Along the way, young whales began to mimic adult feeding methods and other behaviors.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Archipelago, a renowned underwater photographersays this project got him thinking about his relationship with whales. The tender moments he experienced contrasted with his childhood when he read epic stories from Leviathans such as Moby-Dick.
“These are very complex societies in the ocean,” he says. “We know that they have cultures, that they celebrate identity, that they show joy and sadness. They understand that family, community, societies are important and that they need each other. And I think it’s a nice reminder of that what I think we already are knows too. “
A sperm whale calf, which scientists named Hope, rests in a Sargassum patch. It was suckled by an adult named Canopener, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she is Hope’s mother. Each social unit of the sperm whale can care for differently. In some cases, aunts or grandmothers also provide milk for the offspring. Or a single woman can breastfeed two calves at the same time, even if neither belongs to her. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
A sperm whale calf, which scientists named Hope, rests in a Sargassum patch. It was suckled by an adult named Canopener, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she is Hope’s mother. Each social unit of the sperm whale can care for differently. In some cases, aunts or grandmothers also provide milk for the offspring. Or a single woman can breastfeed two calves at the same time, even if neither belongs to them.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Like a whale maternity ward, beluga cows and their calves flock to the slightly warmer waters at the mouth of the Cunningham River in the Canadian Arctic. At times when they were temporarily trapped in river basins by receding tides, scientist Valeria Vergara recorded several belugas vocalizing at the same time. She now suspects that they are using single calls that suggest they are sending her identity. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Like a whale maternity ward, beluga cows and their calves flock to the slightly warmer waters at the mouth of the Cunningham River in the Canadian Arctic. At times when they were temporarily trapped in river basins by receding tides, scientist Valeria Vergara recorded several belugas vocalizing at the same time. She now suspects that they are using single calls that suggest they are sending her identity.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Nearly 2,000 belugas cavort near Somerset Island in arctic Canada every summer, grooming their young, chatting with squeaks and whistles, and swimming in alternating networks of companions and family members. Scientists suspect that many species of whales share cultural traditions as well as humans. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
Nearly 2,000 belugas cavort near Somerset Island in arctic Canada every summer, grooming their young, chatting with squeaks and whistles, and swimming in alternating networks of companions and family members. Scientists suspect that many species of whales share cultural traditions as well as humans.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
A humpback cow and a calf are joined by two males on the Cook Islands. Men accompany women with calves in the hope that they will be the next to mate with the mothers. Calves let out a low, whispered squeak, perhaps so as not to be overheard by predators. Grown men sing in low, guttural moans and high-pitched honking and screeching. Brian Skerry / National Geographic hide caption
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Brian Skerry / National Geographic
A humpback cow and a calf are joined by two males on the Cook Islands. Men accompany women with calves in the hope that they will be the next to mate with the mothers. Calves let out a low, whispered squeak, perhaps so as not to be overheard by predators. Grown men sing in low, guttural moans and high-pitched honking and screeching.
Brian Skerry / National Geographic
For more photos of Skerry, see the May issue of National Geographic magazine online at natgeo.com/planetpossible.
