Encounters with short-finned pilot whales
Whale watching has become a multi-million dollar industry on a global scale. Next to observations of free-ranging whales and dolphins from land-based platforms such as high cliff tops, hundreds of thousands of whale watchers book boat excursions (...here...) to approach cetaceans in the wild. Next to boat-based whale watching, swim-with whales or dolphins have become increasingly popular (...here...). During these humans directly enter the water to approach single animals or groups. Short-finned pilot whales have been in the focus of both, and at certain locations they are the main or one of the main target species.
Click ...here... to see boat-based whale watching excursions with short-finned pilot whales from a helicopter perspective (.mov file with 10.9 MB).
Click ...here... to see in-water interaction sequences from a single encounter with free-ranging short-finned pilot whales (.mov file with 9.4 MB).
