I was seeing six blue whales in an area
the size of a soccer pitch I’ve got out
to name them the unorthodox whales
because they actually break the
stereotypes we had for this species it
has set me on an incredible adventure I
was back in 2003 I was working on a
whale research vessel that was
circumnavigating the globe
on this particular day of significance I
was standing up on deck straining my
eyes looking out for this part of sperma
that we trapped all night long I could
hear their sounds emanating from the
pilothouse below me but I just couldn’t
see them I knew what I was looking for
this short lofty blue slanted off to the
left-hand side super characteristic of
sperm whale I searched and I looked for
hours and end and I couldn’t find them
but then I saw this at all powerful
vertical blow that rose all the way to
the sky as far as I could tell this
animal was at least 2 kilometers away
from us but it was an incredible sight
and I knew it could only come from an
animal it was incredibly large and
powerful so I got super excited as you
would as well and I grabbed my
walkie-talkie and I called down to my
captain I said Bob Bob 11 o’clock 2
kilometers go go go and he says why and
I said I think it’s a blue whale and he
says sure gets off course starts
cruising the direction that I’ve now
sent him off in and I am now like so
afraid and paranoid to lose this visual
my eyes are streaming as I stand into
the glare I’m trying so hard to just
focus and that’s when I think I started
to lose my mind because it wasn’t just
one blue L I was seeing I was seeing six
blue whales in an area the size of a
soccer pitch I’m thinking to myself why
on earth would an animal the largest
that has ever roamed the planet with the
freedom to like travel 70% of our planet
choose to just aggregate in this tiny
little spot in a warm tropical ocean so
I was fresh out of undergrad and I
started to think about what I’ve been
thought thought about my textbooks and
what my professors had said and I
remembered large whales like blue whales
undertake long-range migrations between
cold feeding areas and warm breeding and
carving areas that was it I was super
stoked I was going to be the first
person on the planet to document
blue whales having sex so I you know I
thought this is awesome my career’s made
fame and fortune what do people complain
about this is so easy gosh
so I’m there egging the captain on I’m
like Bob we have to go this is going to
be incredible so we’re moving forward
getting there but work moving as fast as
this boat can take us and we get there
and it is not what you think it is
there’s not a single whale penis in
sight I am super disappointed because
these whales are now lolling at the
surface hanging out occasionally one
will dive come back up and I’m like what
the heck is going on my dreams that I
had created for the last two kilometers
of my life were completely shattered
and I was like oh my god what am I going
to do with my life but I insisted that
we stayed around and watched for a
little cuz you know this is my first
blue whale or six and that’s when I saw
this this ladies and gentlemen is a pile
of blue whale poop what’s most exciting
about this is not just the stunning red
color but the fact that there was poo
which meant these animals were feeding
somewhere close now remember I told you
the start blue whales
undertake long-range migrations between
cold feeding areas and warm breeding and
carving areas Sri Lanka is five degrees
above the equator as warm and as
tropical as it can get what the heck how
the hell were they feeding in these
waters they’re considered unproductive
because they’re warm
this was my Eureka moment not everyone
can say that their career started with
the pilot but I’m pretty pleased to be
able to do that the thing is this moment
spiraled into me pioneering bluella
research in the northern Indian Ocean I
launched the first long-term study on
this population of pretty much unknown
blue whales crazy but true and it has
set me on an incredible adventure in the
intervening years I have discovered that
in fact these waters because of the
enclosed nature of the northern Indian
Ocean the situation of Sri Lanka’s
southern coast is extremely productive
for that latitude I’ve gone on to name
them the unorthodox whales because they
actually break the stereotypes we had
for this species they don’t undertake
long-range migrations they actually have
a very limited range they hang out all
year round in warm tropical waters of
the northern Indian Ocean there’s the
smallest of the blue whales that you’ll
find in the oceans
they’re called pygmy blue whales they
grow 280 feet not a hundred they have a
different acoustic dialect they also
have different behaviors they lift their
tail flukes up before a deep dive more
often than anywhere else in the world so
you’ll see this about 60% of the time
whereas anywhere else less than 20%
the time it’s a photographer’s dream
destination blue well everyone in the
world that calls steno faggus because
they’re very specific they feed on one
single thing krill these guys feed on
something different but the key thing
here is that they have all these
different behaviors and adaptations
because they are living in a very
confined space over a very limited range
and during the course of my work I’ve
also met the oldest blue whale in our
population I took this photograph in
2011 on a documentary shoot and as soon
as I saw the markings I thought to
myself I have seen you before
luckily not a lot of work had gone on
before on these whales in fact there was
only one paper that existed in the
history of our nation and that was done
in 1984 and you can see and I’ve named
it whale and tyne but the point is this
animal is at least 27 years old and it’s
living in our waters but what’s really
cool about this sighting is that you can
see where I saw the whale in 2011 was
just less than 10 kilometers away from
where it was sighted in 1984 so we’re
getting a sense of site fidelity how
important this area is to these animals
we know they’re feeding breeding and
carving in a very confined space so the
conservation problems they face are far
more compounded right now my crusade is
about saving these whales from getting
killed by ships the southern coast of
Sri Lanka is one of the busiest shipping
lanes in the world it’s the main artery
through the Indian Ocean
everything from Singapore to Dubai
cruises right through these waters
here’s some of the data we have the red
lines are showing you this dense ship
traffic the black dots those are whale
sightings look at the south coast
there’s a distinct overlap so sightings
like this are totally unsurprising this
is a whale that came wrapped on the bow
of a container ship into the main port
in Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2012 12 days
later we had another carcass floating at
sea with a massive propeller gash the
thing is evidence like this can be a
little bit rare because oftentimes the
carcasses will sink get pushed offshore
or the deteriorates so much that when
they
want to sure we can’t actually identify
the cause of death but calculations show
that for every one we document at least
10 have gone undocumented so it’s not an
isolated incident neither are the
numbers small 90% of the vessels that
cruise through our waters are actually
bypassing my country they’re not coming
into port so if we can shift the
shipping lanes 15 nautical miles
offshore we can reduce the problems
significantly and then that 10% of
vessels that are actually coming into
port well if they slowed down a little
it would make a difference I’ve done the
science I’ve created all the awareness
and now I’m pushing for policy change
both at the level of Sri Lankan
government but also intergovernmental II
because shipping lanes are a slightly
complex problem but my work is not just
about saving whales my work is about
showing the talent of the developing
world I believe that we get local
scientists trained so they can start
looking after their own waters using
local solutions that is what creates
sustainability and I invite all of you
to join me on this audacious audacious
journey to achieve this for the sake of
the oceans and humanity thank you you’ll
come in and you’ll see the the whale
rotates as it approaches the bottom it’s
rolling on its side and the camera
twists actually so it’s pointed
downwards and you see these little sand
lance fish swarming all over the bottom
that’s the prey that the whales going
after
the size of a soccer pitch I’ve got out
to name them the unorthodox whales
because they actually break the
stereotypes we had for this species it
has set me on an incredible adventure I
was back in 2003 I was working on a
whale research vessel that was
circumnavigating the globe
on this particular day of significance I
was standing up on deck straining my
eyes looking out for this part of sperma
that we trapped all night long I could
hear their sounds emanating from the
pilothouse below me but I just couldn’t
see them I knew what I was looking for
this short lofty blue slanted off to the
left-hand side super characteristic of
sperm whale I searched and I looked for
hours and end and I couldn’t find them
but then I saw this at all powerful
vertical blow that rose all the way to
the sky as far as I could tell this
animal was at least 2 kilometers away
from us but it was an incredible sight
and I knew it could only come from an
animal it was incredibly large and
powerful so I got super excited as you
would as well and I grabbed my
walkie-talkie and I called down to my
captain I said Bob Bob 11 o’clock 2
kilometers go go go and he says why and
I said I think it’s a blue whale and he
says sure gets off course starts
cruising the direction that I’ve now
sent him off in and I am now like so
afraid and paranoid to lose this visual
my eyes are streaming as I stand into
the glare I’m trying so hard to just
focus and that’s when I think I started
to lose my mind because it wasn’t just
one blue L I was seeing I was seeing six
blue whales in an area the size of a
soccer pitch I’m thinking to myself why
on earth would an animal the largest
that has ever roamed the planet with the
freedom to like travel 70% of our planet
choose to just aggregate in this tiny
little spot in a warm tropical ocean so
I was fresh out of undergrad and I
started to think about what I’ve been
thought thought about my textbooks and
what my professors had said and I
remembered large whales like blue whales
undertake long-range migrations between
cold feeding areas and warm breeding and
carving areas that was it I was super
stoked I was going to be the first
person on the planet to document
blue whales having sex so I you know I
thought this is awesome my career’s made
fame and fortune what do people complain
about this is so easy gosh
so I’m there egging the captain on I’m
like Bob we have to go this is going to
be incredible so we’re moving forward
getting there but work moving as fast as
this boat can take us and we get there
and it is not what you think it is
there’s not a single whale penis in
sight I am super disappointed because
these whales are now lolling at the
surface hanging out occasionally one
will dive come back up and I’m like what
the heck is going on my dreams that I
had created for the last two kilometers
of my life were completely shattered
and I was like oh my god what am I going
to do with my life but I insisted that
we stayed around and watched for a
little cuz you know this is my first
blue whale or six and that’s when I saw
this this ladies and gentlemen is a pile
of blue whale poop what’s most exciting
about this is not just the stunning red
color but the fact that there was poo
which meant these animals were feeding
somewhere close now remember I told you
the start blue whales
undertake long-range migrations between
cold feeding areas and warm breeding and
carving areas Sri Lanka is five degrees
above the equator as warm and as
tropical as it can get what the heck how
the hell were they feeding in these
waters they’re considered unproductive
because they’re warm
this was my Eureka moment not everyone
can say that their career started with
the pilot but I’m pretty pleased to be
able to do that the thing is this moment
spiraled into me pioneering bluella
research in the northern Indian Ocean I
launched the first long-term study on
this population of pretty much unknown
blue whales crazy but true and it has
set me on an incredible adventure in the
intervening years I have discovered that
in fact these waters because of the
enclosed nature of the northern Indian
Ocean the situation of Sri Lanka’s
southern coast is extremely productive
for that latitude I’ve gone on to name
them the unorthodox whales because they
actually break the stereotypes we had
for this species they don’t undertake
long-range migrations they actually have
a very limited range they hang out all
year round in warm tropical waters of
the northern Indian Ocean there’s the
smallest of the blue whales that you’ll
find in the oceans
they’re called pygmy blue whales they
grow 280 feet not a hundred they have a
different acoustic dialect they also
have different behaviors they lift their
tail flukes up before a deep dive more
often than anywhere else in the world so
you’ll see this about 60% of the time
whereas anywhere else less than 20%
the time it’s a photographer’s dream
destination blue well everyone in the
world that calls steno faggus because
they’re very specific they feed on one
single thing krill these guys feed on
something different but the key thing
here is that they have all these
different behaviors and adaptations
because they are living in a very
confined space over a very limited range
and during the course of my work I’ve
also met the oldest blue whale in our
population I took this photograph in
2011 on a documentary shoot and as soon
as I saw the markings I thought to
myself I have seen you before
luckily not a lot of work had gone on
before on these whales in fact there was
only one paper that existed in the
history of our nation and that was done
in 1984 and you can see and I’ve named
it whale and tyne but the point is this
animal is at least 27 years old and it’s
living in our waters but what’s really
cool about this sighting is that you can
see where I saw the whale in 2011 was
just less than 10 kilometers away from
where it was sighted in 1984 so we’re
getting a sense of site fidelity how
important this area is to these animals
we know they’re feeding breeding and
carving in a very confined space so the
conservation problems they face are far
more compounded right now my crusade is
about saving these whales from getting
killed by ships the southern coast of
Sri Lanka is one of the busiest shipping
lanes in the world it’s the main artery
through the Indian Ocean
everything from Singapore to Dubai
cruises right through these waters
here’s some of the data we have the red
lines are showing you this dense ship
traffic the black dots those are whale
sightings look at the south coast
there’s a distinct overlap so sightings
like this are totally unsurprising this
is a whale that came wrapped on the bow
of a container ship into the main port
in Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2012 12 days
later we had another carcass floating at
sea with a massive propeller gash the
thing is evidence like this can be a
little bit rare because oftentimes the
carcasses will sink get pushed offshore
or the deteriorates so much that when
they
want to sure we can’t actually identify
the cause of death but calculations show
that for every one we document at least
10 have gone undocumented so it’s not an
isolated incident neither are the
numbers small 90% of the vessels that
cruise through our waters are actually
bypassing my country they’re not coming
into port so if we can shift the
shipping lanes 15 nautical miles
offshore we can reduce the problems
significantly and then that 10% of
vessels that are actually coming into
port well if they slowed down a little
it would make a difference I’ve done the
science I’ve created all the awareness
and now I’m pushing for policy change
both at the level of Sri Lankan
government but also intergovernmental II
because shipping lanes are a slightly
complex problem but my work is not just
about saving whales my work is about
showing the talent of the developing
world I believe that we get local
scientists trained so they can start
looking after their own waters using
local solutions that is what creates
sustainability and I invite all of you
to join me on this audacious audacious
journey to achieve this for the sake of
the oceans and humanity thank you you’ll
come in and you’ll see the the whale
rotates as it approaches the bottom it’s
rolling on its side and the camera
twists actually so it’s pointed
downwards and you see these little sand
lance fish swarming all over the bottom
that’s the prey that the whales going
after
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