Humpback Whale peduncle slap is a powerful part of the Language of the Whales and often used in dominant or defensive communications. Today with so many pods having entered the sighting grounds we had great examples of a peduncle slap with multiple pods performing these with conversations amongst the whales unfolding all around. Although we see our Humpback Whales socialising on any occasions, when things get crowded and there are many pods within close proximity to each other it isn’t unusual to observe more defensive of dominate surface language. Establishing a good reactionary distance enables the whales time to decide if they want to interact with the other pods or maintain that distance to rest quietly and away from the others.
The movement of a Humpback Whale pivoting their head downwards and launching from their dorsal fin to the fluke upwards and over onto the surface is known by a couple of different names including a peduncle slap, tail lob, peduncle throw or lobtailing. The word peduncle comes from the name given to the muscle that runs from their dorsal fin down towards their fluke and is incredibly important to the whale as this muscle propels movement enabling everything from swimming, breaching and of course the impressive peduncle slap! Today was all about this Language of the Whales and great to see the flow of communication amongst all of the pods gathering in the sighting grounds today. It was clear that there were many dominant whales establishing boundaries amongst all the pods today making for great viewing opportunities!
