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Bowhead whales dive in sync despite distances of up to ten miles between them, according to a study by Danish, Greenlandic and Japanese researchers.
It shows that the whales use an advanced form of acoustic communication, according to Danish researcher Jonas Teilmann, professor at Aarhus University.
– It’s about hundreds of dives over a week that are synchronized. It is unlikely that it would be a coincidence that two individuals dive in the same second so many times, he tells the Danish news agency Ritzau.
The twelve whales that the researchers followed have all been fitted with some form of transmitter and then the researchers have followed the movement patterns of the whales using data logs.
What they had in common was that when they were within ten miles of each other, they dived exactly at the same time, says Teilmann.
– We believe that the whales communicate about food resources, he says.
The bowhead whale is one of the world’s largest mammals and can reach 18 meters in length and weigh up to 100 tonnes.