ACS Monterey Bay Program for November/December 2008

Biomechanical Process Uniformities in Lunge-Feeding Rorqual Whales

Rorqual whales are the largest animals on earth yet their filter-feeding processes and mechanisms are poorly understood due to the difficulties of locating and studying feeding whales at sea. Most of the previous work on rorqual feeding involved anatomical studies of dead whales or investigations of living whales which were not seen feeding. As a result, functional aspects of the feeding process remained highly speculative.

Brian's research involves capturing and analyzing digital video footage of rorquals while they are visibly feeding on krill or schooling fishes at the sea surface. During his 1300 hours of research at sea and after observing over 3500 lunge-feeding events, Brian has taken thousands of photographs and has compiled hundreds of hours of video of blue, finback, humpback and minke whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in eastern Canada.

In addition to sharing his data with our Chapter, Brian will show video clips of each species' feeding and swimming behavior. These clips were recorded from various field platforms including inflatable boats, a helicopter and a video camera system tethered to helium balloons. His presentation will detail some of the longest continual surface-feeding bouts ever recorded involving individual blue, finback and minke whales.

Please join us for our wrap-up presentation for 2008, one that promises to have spectacular visuals and which will provide interesting information and insight about several cetaceans from our "other coast".

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