Humpback whales less sociable in presence of boats
Humpback whales have been found to be less chatty when there are boats in the vicinity.
After studying humpback whales off Queensland's Peregian Beach, researchers discovered that the whalesâ ability to communicate and socialise is adversely affected by the noise and presence of boats.
In some cases, the mammalsâ communication range is reduced by a factor of four.
"It appears that groups of humpback whales tend to socialise much less in the presence of vesselsâin this study, mostly small fishing boatsâcompared to when there aren't any present," said Rebecca Dunlop from The University of Queensland's Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory.
She suggested that one of the reasons could be that the noise from the vessels hinder the whaleâs ability to hear one another, saying that âif they can't hear each other, they're less likely to join together."
It is also likely that the physical presence of the vessels causes a change in the whalesâ behaviour.
However, Dr Dunlop assured that any changes in breeding interactions due to the vesselsâ presence is likely to have a negligible effect on the population.
She added that only if other factors came into play (for example, changes in krill population or increased human activity) would the vesselsâ presence have a more negative impact.
The findings of the study was published in the Royal Society Open Science journal.