Overview
- A peer-reviewed study, published Monday in Marine Mammal Science, documents the first drone-captured footage of sperm whales striking one another with their heads.
- Researchers recorded the encounters in the Azores and Spain’s Balearic Islands between 2020 and 2022, and one event paired the video with an acoustic tag that captured social clicks and codas.
- Most strikes involved sub-adult whales rather than the large adult males scientists had expected, with examples ranging from head-to-head collisions to a young male ramming a small female.
- The function remains unclear, with hypotheses that include rough play among juveniles, male–male competition, or social tensions that may push young males to leave family groups, and the team is asking others to share similar footage to test these ideas.
- The footage lends weight to 19th‑century accounts such as the Essex sinking that showed whales can deliver forceful head strikes, even as some scientists caution frequent head blows would risk vital sound‑producing structures, underscoring how drones are revealing near‑surface behaviors long missed from boats.