There’s a vidio of a Beluga Whale opening it’s mouth toward a bunch of giggling kids. Some people say it’s aggression,not play.
I’m sorry I can’t put the vidio on here,I just don’t know how.
I know the one you mean.
Aggression? Maybe.
Could be he’s yelling at the kids to get off his lawn. I wouldn’t blame him. Little bastards are annoying to deal with all day.
There was another short thread on this a few weeks ago:
Well, who’s going to argue with a whale?
Thank you,I knew someone on here would know.
Is anyone here a marine biologist?
I always wanted to pretend to be a marine biologist.
Or an Architect?
Isn’t an architect just an art school dropout with a tilting desk and a big ruler?
He is engaged in aggressive play, like king of the mountain like it says in the video.
Is that a Titleist?
As someone with an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology, I say go with a biodegradable golf ball.
I own a marine aquarium. . . I don’t have any mammals but many marine tropical fish species do that. I have a large rabbitfish and he’ll flash his poisonous top fins when I’m around, basically saying “don’t grab me!”
That’s what my degree is in, but I dont actively practice. I am just a bureaucrat.
Looks aggressive to me or perhaps just assertive.
Yes, I have a master’s in marine biology and am a working marine biologist, but I can’t offer any opinion on the subject of the thread. Even though I do observe a lot of whales, I work outside the range of belugas, and am therefore not qualified to comment on their behavior.
In addition to that, the vast majority of toothed whale (read to include dolphins & porpoises, and the beluga) behavior observations are made from the surface. So the various dolphins & porpoises I do see on a regular basis could be exhibiting the same behavior seen in the video all the time, and I’d never know it unless it could be seen from the surface. When I do look for aggressive behavior in the wild, I’m looking at animals in motion, and their speed and position relative to other animals (just a couple months ago I saw a pod of Risso’s dolphins mobbing a humpback whale: definitely aggressive behavior, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you if their mouths were open or closed.)
Your best bet for a good answer to this thread is someone who has spent a lot of time with toothed whales in captivity, perhaps at an aquarium, ocean park, or captive research facility of some sort.
It is possible that some Dopers have that expertise… CannyDan comes to mind as someone who I think has worked here or somewhere similar - apologies in advance if I’m mistaken, CannyDan. Someone on the SDMB has, at least.
They’re a better bet for analyzing this behavior. 90% of marine biologists like myself will just have to shrug because of the way we observe animals (usually in the wild.)
Ah, but does he have a parking space?
I immediately thought of George too on Seinfeld with this thread title and was wondering how long this thread would go before someone referenced it.