Researchers on the Blue Panda expedition sailing boat were excited when their drone spotted a social group of sperm whales with young calves.
“We are over the Hellenic Trench, a series of deep-sea underwater canyons stretching 600 kilometres from south-west Turkey along southern Crete to Western Greece,” says WWF’s Chris Johnson, who shared the footage while on the Blue Panda expedition (coordinated by WWF-France) with researchers from the Tethys Research Institute and WWF Greece.
This is a critical deep-water habitat for many marine animals and has been designated as an "Important Marine Mammal Area" by the IUCN.
“Sperm whales are found all over the world. They are known as the 'elephants of the sea' and live in matrilineal family groups,” says Johnson.
“They are exceptionally social and often come together as a group, where they may roll over and touch each other, or swim in a line.”
With human pressures on sperm whales and other ocean creatures growing in the region – and Mediterranean sperm whale populations classified as endangered – the scientists were pleased to see young calves in the group.
Johnson adds: “Documenting this encounter will add critical data for their conservation.”
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