Aerial behavior

Dolphins and whales (and some pinnipeds) at times show leaping and other surface activities. There are multiple aerial behavior types and reasons, and not all are totally understood. This chapter discusses these leaping and breaching behaviors, but also mentions lunging, spy-hopping, slapping flukes, and flippers onto the water surface (lobtailing and flipper slapping), porpoising, and lifting the flukes clear of the water, or fluking. Breaching is defined as a jump in which at least 40% of the animal leaves the water. When breaching, sperm whales (. Physeter macrocephalus) tend to approach the surface vertically from depth, whereas other animals swimming in water less than a few body lengths deep, e.g., humpback and right whales (. Eubalaena spp.), make a horizontal approach to the breach, gaining speed until, at the last moment, they raise their heads and flukes, pivoting on their flippers, converting horizontal momentum into vertical motion, and thus rising through the surface. To make a full breach, a humpback whale must break the surface at about 15 knots (about 8 m/s), close to its maximum speed. It is likely that some of the most spectacular breaches of other species also represent the full power of the animal. © 2009