Tail_sailing

Tail sailing

Tail sailing

Behaviour of certain whales

Main article: Cetacean surfacing behaviour

Tail sailing refers to the action of whales lifting their tails clear of the water for long periods of time.[1] The process is rarely observed by humans, and the precise motivation for this phenomenon is unknown.[2] It is thought that whales either undertake this activity to catch the wind and 'sail' through the water, or as a method to cool down. A third theory suggests that the whale is feeding close to the sea floor.

"Sailing" by a southern right whale.
Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary footage of the tail sailing behaviour of a humpback whale.

Scientists believe that tail-sailing is fairly common amongst certain species, such as the Southern right whale.[3]

References

  1. [1]
    "Sailing Tail". Whale Coast Route. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  2. [2]
    "Rare footage released of humpback whale hanging tail in air near Hawaii". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  3. [3]
    AOL Staff. "Humpback whale 'tail-sails' as she watches her calf off the Maui coast". AOL.com. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Tail_sailing, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.