Hvaler

Pukkelhvaler danner klaner med forskellig kultur

After studying more than 23,000 sperm whale vocalisations recorded from 1978 to 2017 in the Pacific Ocean, researchers have concluded that sperm whales use distinctive vocalisations to identify themselves with specific whale clans.

Called “identity codas,” these vocalisations comprise sequences of clicking sounds that distinguish different social groups. They are different from non-identity vocalisations used across all the different whale clans.

Fin whale feeding aggregation.
Fin whale feeding aggregation of ~70 fin whales encountered during RV Polarstern expedition in 2018

Grupper of finhvaler observeret i Antarktis

Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus quoyi) of the Southern Hemisphere were brought to near extinction by 20th-century industrial whaling. For decades, they had all but disappeared from previously highly frequented feeding grounds in Antarctic waters. Researchers estimate that by the time whaling was banned in the 1970s over 700,000 fin whales had been killed.  

Videofil
An era is about to come to an end. South Sea Whale Fishery, lithographic print published 1835

Island agter helt at droppe hvalfangst i 2024

Sammen med Norge og Japan er Island et af de få lande, der fortsat bedriver kommeciel hvalfangst.

Efterspørgslen efter hvalkød er dog faldet dramatisk, siden Japan – Islands væsentligste marked – genoptog deres egen kommercielle hvalfangst i 2019 efter et 30-årigt forbud. Kommerciel hvalfangst blev forbudt som ifølge en embargo fra Den Internationale Hvalfangstkommission (IWC) i 1986, som Japan imidlertid trak sig ud af i December 2018.