Fieldwork - Winter 2006

So its been a while since I've posted anything, and that is because I've been in the field making recordings and taking pictures of the sperm whales. Sperm could possibly be one of the goofiest looking creatures on the planet. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my work and think that they are fascinating and amazing creatures, however interesting and goofy are not mutually exclusive. Unfortunately my pictures don't really capture the true nature of the sperm whale, so here goes:



Sperm whales look like crooked, brown, wrinkly logs that float and bob at the ocean surface. Their blow hole is offset forward and to the left, and their dorsal hump is also off-center. They have brown wrinkly skin which gives them a jumbo-rasin like texture. They don't often have much of their body above the water, and are therefore difficult to photograph, however when beginning a deep dive, they raise their flukes above the water as they angle nearly straight down towards the ocean floor, in much the same way a skin diver would. The flukes of each whale are very distinct and fluke photographs are used to uniquely identify individual whales. This guy has a little hole on the right hand side near the center of the fluke. Also in a more abstract yet practical sense, the nicks, scallops, and tips of the tail can be used to create inkblots for use in psychological testing.



Sperm whales are the largest of the odontocetes, or toothed whales and they are mesopelagic teuthivores, which in biologish means they eat squid that swim in the middle of the water column, though they have also been known to eat midwater fish and various benthic creatures. Contrary to popular belief the sperm whales here do not feed exlcusively on giant squid. In fact studies have shown that they prefer to eat arrow squid, which are actually a small species of squid compared to the size of the sperm whale.



The sperm whales here in Kaikoura are mostly subadult males, meaning that they are sexually mature but can't score with the female whales. They spend most of their days making loud clicking noises that scienticians generally agree are used either for echolocation, or to provide a percussive metronome to keep other more melodic species of whales singing at the proper tempo. Either way, they are extremely loud and can be heard many nautical miles away. My research includes recording these echolocation clicks from multiple hydrophones to triangulate the whales position, which of course is easier said than done. In addition to that, I'm working on creating a musical instrument based on the theremin to convert interpretive dance into whale song. Just think of the possibilities!



Kaikoura is my field location, and it is one of a few places in the world where the sperm whales regularly come close to the shore. This means that we can use small boats to get close enough to the sperm whales to record them and take their pictures. It also means that I get to sleep in a warm bed on dry land each night.



The first week of June we had amazing weather, and spent 5 full days on the water from sunrise at 8:00am until about 4:00pm, and in addition to many sperm whales. We also saw a group of approximately 300 highly acrobatic dusky dolphins.



I've also been fortunate enough to see killer whales here in Kaikoura. The sperm whales didn't seem too bothered by the killer whales when they were here, however there have been other reported instances of killer whales attacking and killing smaller sperm whales. Like most great nature documentaries I am now guilty of creating tension by taking footage from two different places and times and editing such that they appear to be happening at the same place and time. Except I didn't do a great job of it here because the orca is clearly near shore, while the whale is clearly miles from shore. Yes the lighting is totally different too. If you are actually wondering, I took the photo of the orca in Te Wai Wai Bay (hundreds of miles from Kaikoura) in March, and I've flipped it around so it appears to be facing the sperm whales on the opposite of the page. Probably would have worked better if I had at least attempted to match the backgrounds of each photo.

We operate on a small boat called Grampus. Its a 6 meter aluminium boat with a 100 horsepower Yamaha outboard. Even loaded with tons of gear there's still enough space for the essentials such as chocolate, coffee, and dried apricots. The amount of gear can seem ridiculous at times, but each instrument gives a vital piece of information.

You see, in addition to taking pictures of sea creatures, my research includes throwing these various expensive scientific instruments over the side of the boat and into the deep blue yonder, waiting for some period of time to pass, and then pulling them up back onto the boat again. After sitting in front of a computer for a some amount of time, I then interpret the meaning of it all. So far the most likely meaning of it all is that I must be crazy -- not a real shocker.

Seriously though, I like all of the cool toys that I get to play with. I get to listen to the whales on our three omnidirectional hydrophones, or track them with a directional hydrophone - all built in house. I get to measure the depth of the instruments with a scuba computer which is always telling me that I need to decompress. I get to use the expensive CTD to measure conductivity, temperature, and depth of the ocean, which is all necessary to estimate the speed of sound. Throw in a GPS and echosounder and its a party! And all the while, the whales keep clicking away while we record them directly to a laptop hard disk for posterity.