Love is in the air
by Lorna Hill
February 2018
The mating season has started and how fitting that we are
celebrating Valentines Day today. As bowls of chocolates get passed around the
room and whispers of “I love you” disappear into the wind, the whales
expression of “love” is a lot more …. “turbulent”.
Mating whales is quite a
sight to see. Usually in a group, we see whales of 4 or 5 (it can be more, or
less) all circling each other, locked into a courtship ritual or pursuit, all
thrashing the water and flukes and fins and blows appearing in quick intervals.
This can last for hours but you know when the actual mating is happening when
you see, what whale watchers like to call it, the “Pink Floyd” – the 3-4 ft
long, prehensile penis. It is easy to see this a number of times during the
mating, as the males roll and move about, it appears above the surface the
water.
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