Whales do not know how to avoid boats

Boats are a major threat to blue whales, because the animal does not know how to react when it hits.

Whales do not know how to react when colliding

" Collisions with boats on the sea that lead to death are not in the whale's evolutionary history. Therefore, the reflexes to these hazards are not yet formed and the blue whales do not respond appropriately when facing the The ship can be dangerous, " said Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen of Stanford University, UK. Blue whales are smart but have no experience of self-protection.

A blue whale in the Indian Ocean dies after colliding with a cargo ship.(Photo: Barcroft Media)

To understand how blue whales respond when the ship approaches, the team attaches GPS tracking devices and tracks fish stocks off the coast of Long Beach, California, USA. Analyzing the reactions of nine individuals with 20 ships at a distance of 60 m-3 km, they found they did not swim around to avoid, but tended to dive into the sea slowly.

According to the Huffington Post, speed is the cause of increased risk of collisions. On average, whales need to dive about 30 m deep to avoid hitting boats. Meanwhile, the individual whales that were tracked only sank to the sea at a speed of 0.5m / sec, nearly escaping the collision.

Collisions with large cargo ships explain why the number of blue whales is still low, despite many efforts to protect them. Researchers plan to continue tracking whales and expand to humpback whales. The recorded data is expected to provide solutions to limit similar risks.