swimBLOG: In-water encounters of humans with free-ranging cetaceans
The swimBLOG is the precursor of a new website which is currently under construction. www.swim-with-whales-and-dolphins.org will be run as an own domain quite soon. For your immediate interest you will get detailed impressions on swimming with wild short-finned pilot whales (...here...) or check the video library (...here...).
Recent update: 10.03.13
(10.03.13)
As a marine mammal, seals (here: grey seals Halichoerus grypus) are regularly confronted with human encounters. In contrast to whales and dolphins, seals are vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts at terrestrial haul-out sites and in their aquatic home ranges.
(10.03.13)
Click ...here... to see grey seal pup behavior while a plane
is passing at close distance (.mov file with 8.2 MB)
(06.12.12)
Click ...here... to see a group of bottlenose dolphins
approaching a human swimmer (.mov file with 15 MB)
(Video: Fabian Ritter)
(06.12.12)
Click ...here... to see human snorkelers swimming
with a large pilot whale group (.mov file with 10.4 MB)
(Video: Roland Gockel)
(06.12.12)
Click ...here... to see a human swimmer approaching
a pilot whale underwater (.mov file with 9.9 MB)
(Video: Roland Gockel)
(06.12.12)
Click ...here... to see a group of bottlenose dolphins
interacting with a human swimmer (.mov file with 12.3 MB)
(Video: Roland Gockel)
About
Encounters of humans with free-ranging cetaceans have quantitatively increased worldwide, mainly in the context of commercial whale watching activities. In addition to observations of free-ranging cetaceans from land, air or boat, for many humans it has become a life-dream to encounter a whale or dolphin directly in its natural habitat and during swim encounters. Next to short-finned pilot whales (...here...) more than 20 free-ranging whale and dolphin species were reported to be encountered by human swimmers, snorkelers, divers and waders.
As for short-finned pilot whales (...here...), cetacean individuals or groups self-initiate a variety of behaviors which they address towards humans. Own research showed (...here...) that these behaviors can be affiliative, aggressive-threatening and sexual in nature. Though most interactive behaviors were affiliative, food-provisioned and solitary dolphins were reported to self-initiate -next to affiliative- aggressive-threatening and even sexual behaviors. It is believed that these behaviors are responses to inappropriate human behaviors.
During in-water encounters swimmers can further interact -next to food-provisioned and solitary dolphins- with cetaceans which are unhabituated to human contact. Though these animals might encounter humans infrequently or even more regularly, unhabituated whales and dolphins still show disturbance reactions in response to swimmers. Habituated animals normally show no signs of disturbance. Both, habituated and unhabituated cetaceans, have not been reported to put swimmers at health risk so far.