Seduced by Meduse!

Last Thursday (1st September) we had a repeat date with Meduse (H607). Meduse is a male humpback who it appears is a little bit confused about his sexuality, and who has a predilection for blue rubber over the fairer sex. The blue rubber in question is our research boat Sirocco, and if you are within 400m of Meduse he makes a b-line for Sirocco; while this makes for some interesting encounters, it can be a real challenge if you are trying to study natural behaviour.

The Kelp Dance.

We first encountered Meduse on 22nd July, while he was trying to seduce his female escort. "Lazy Zhu" (H731), and that was when we tagged him for the first time. Over the next week, whenever we encountered Meduse he became more and more possessive of Sirocco and would jealously guard his new found love from the advances of other inquisitive whales.  Skip forward five weeks to September 1st and here was Meduse again, performing his underwater ballet in an effort to impress Sirocco.  As part of the "Body Condition Project" we need to get repeat data from the same animal at the beginning and the end of the season to see how body condition changes with time on the feeding grounds; and as Meduse made himself so readily available it seemed rude not to tag him again. Undeterred by the tag Meduse continued his seduction of Sirocco. much to the dismay of "Boomerang" (H706) his chosen partner for the day.  It is a good job that females are blessed with patience because Meduse eventually gave up on Sirocco and headed off into sunset with Boomerang.
 

Meduse flying the flag for Canada & MICS.

I have to say that each time I am lucky enough to see it, I am blown away watching the underwater ballet of Meduse.  It is incredible to watch an animal his size (20m) turn, loop the loop and roll all within a body length; then do it again and again. His pectoral fins are put to good use throughout this intricate dance, being extended and retracted to generate lift and drag when and where required. As for spatial awareness, again blown away; Meduse knew exactly where our very expensive Simrad echosounder was and made several passes by it, each time within a few centimetres.