Whales take different routes but still reach dinner on time
Some travelers take the scenic route. Others step on the gas and head straight for the destination. New research suggests southern right whales do much the same when crossing the Southern Ocean.
Researchers tracking 21 southern right whales have found that these marine mammals take different migration routes but still arrive at their feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean on schedule. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, involved scientists from the University of Auckland and international partners.
Half of the whales followed a direct westward route, while the others took a longer, L-shaped path across the ocean. Despite the different travel styles, both groups reached their destination at roughly the same time. The whales that took the longer route left about a month earlier and traveled at a slower pace, while the whales on the shorter route moved faster.
Lead author Leena Riekkola suggests that the whales may be balancing different priorities, similar to how people might plan a road trip. Some whales may be conserving energy, while others are trying to make up for lost time. The study also highlights the whales' flexibility in their behavior, with individual whales adapting their migration strategy from year to year.
For example, a female might delay migration one year to allow her calf to grow larger, taking the shorter route, but take the longer route the next year when traveling alone. The researchers believe that this flexibility could be beneficial for the recovering southern right whale population as climate change continues to impact the ocean environment.
Associate Professor Emma Carroll notes that a population that can adapt its behavior has a better chance of coping with changing seas.
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