Whales and dolphi ns DO mourn dead
IT was one of the most heartbreaking scenes in Blue Planet II.
A whale was filmed carrying her dead calf for days on end – after it was apparently poisoned by plastic contamination in her milk.
And experts say the mother’s apparent trauma was real: they have found that almost a quarter of cetaceans, the family which includes whales and dolphins, appear to grieve for their dead.
Rather like elephants, which are so intelligent they ‘cry’ for lost relatives, the aquatic mammals stay with their calves up to a week after they die. Whales and dolphins are seen carrying dead bodies in their mouths, nudging them through the water and trying to keep them afloat.
Research led by Dr Giovanni Bearzi at OceanCare in Switzerland concluded they may be so attached to their babies that, like us, they have difficulty ‘letting go’. His team analysed the behaviour of cetaceans based on almost 50 years of studies.
Published in the journal Zoology, the study states: ‘Several species of cetaceans have been long known to care for, attend to, be
aroused by, or show interest in dead or dying individuals.’
Among the 88 living types of cetacean, 20 have been seen to attend their dead, with dolphins the most likely to do so, followed by narwhals and belugas. The study involved researchers at the University of St Andrews.
The animal seen in Blue Planet II, hosted by the BBC’s David Attenborough, was a shortfinned pilot whale, which is one of the most sociable creatures in the ocean. The distressing scenes are credited with helping fire up a British response to marine pollution.