Life on the Edge: Uncut Scenes 5 of 8

Pod of adult beluga whales

Beluga whale bulls swimming in tandem are distinguished by their large melons and generally larger size than adult females who are often observed with calves. Until recently such pods were just assumed to be all males and there was a question as to whether these all-male groups were comprised of closely related individuals. We recently conducted a genetic study that confirmed such social groups were indeed comprised of adult males but found a much more complex pattern of kinship: the pods had both related and unrelated whales (O’Corry-Crowe et al. 2020). The genetic research in concert with satellite tagging studies found that sometimes unrelated male belugas will stay together for months, often traveling thousands of kilometers together. So, what’s going on here, exactly? It could be that males form long-term affiliations with other males that somehow benefit each individual, whether related or not. Cooperation among unrelated individuals is something we are only beginning to understand in the non-primate world. Beluga besties might be a thing!

ABOUT GREG

Before coming to FAU’s Harbor Branch, Greg earned both his bachelor’s degree and his doctorate degree from University College Dublin in Ireland, researching badgers, a small mammal related to weasels, minks and otters. So, how did he end up in Florida researching whales thousands of miles away? Once Greg graduated with his doctorate degree, he moved to California in search of jobs. After facing several rejections, one person at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego said he had a small project on belugas no one was working on. He was shocked at such a unique opportunity to work with marine mammals. “I pounced on that,” he says. “And the rest, as they say, is history.”

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