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Click below to see video footage of
a minke whale near to the boat |
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Common behaviour is to circle the vessel or repeatedly pass underneath the hull. The whale in the picture to the left was one of these curious whales. It stayed with the vessel for over an hour and we used a video camera attached to a large pole to capture this image of the whale hanging about underneath the hull. Click
below for video footage of this whale |
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Minke whales will often swim by flashing their big white bellies towards the hull of the vessel or twist themselves upside down as seen in the photographs above. Click below for a video
of a young
whale twisting in the water Minke whales will also "spy-hop" next to the vessel. This is when they rise up vertically from the water with their rostrum (snout) out of the water. Their eyes are above or just below the surface waters allowing them to have a look at their surroundings. The photographs below show some of these friendly whales. |
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Minke whales will also approach moving vessels to "ride the bow" just like dolphins. We have noted that this is usually at speeds of 4 knots. One day, for over an hour, a minke whale rode alongside the vessel continuously crossing from one side of the bow to the other. On another occasion two minkes came to our bow, one on each side of the vessel. Working together these whales would cross over each other at the bow to swap sides periodically. Click below for a video of a minke whale riding alongside the vessel |
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See more video clips of minke whales interacting with Sea Life Surveys vessel Minke whale passing under vessel QuickTime Minke whale curious about people on the vessel QuickTime
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| project
minke | watching the whales | minke biology |
minkes worldwide |
feeding minkes | |
