Ageing whales: Scars reveal social secrets

Baird's beaked whales, sometimes called giant bottlenose whales, seem to prefer the company of specific individuals. Researchers who identified the whales by scars on their bodies, are calling for hunting of the species to be halted while more information is gathered about their complex social structure. Currently, they are hunted by whalers off northern Japan. The new findings have been published in the journal Marine Mammal Science.Erich Hoyt, from Whale and Dolphin Conservation and co-director of the Russian Cetacean Habitat Project, who led the research, said his team had followed the animals from spring to early autumn over four years. "We were trying to piece together the social behaviour," he told BBC News. The whales spend relatively little time at the surface and make regular dives of up to 30 minutes, reaching depths of 1km (3,300ft). Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Disturbing them or removing individuals might have significant consequences” Prof Ari Friedlaender Oregon State University This makes them difficult to study. But by following them over four years and cataloguing them based on each individual's numerous scars, the scientists were able to reveal new social insights. Most striking were the long-term relationships the whales appeared to form. The team, mostly made up of Russian research students, discovered one alliance of two whales that were together four times - the animals were apparently repeatedly meeting up with one another over a period of more than three years. Of the scars on the whales' bodies, the team concluded these had been caused by drift nets, killer whale attacks and cookie cutter sharks.READ MORE AND SEE VIDEO LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30993208