Dataset Information

Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations.

ABSTRACT: Despite their enormous size, whales make their living as voracious predators. To catch their much smaller, more maneuverable prey, they have developed several unique locomotor strategies that require high energetic input, high mechanical power output and a surprising degree of agility. To better understand how body size affects maneuverability at the largest scale, we used bio-logging data, aerial photogrammetry and a high-throughput approach to quantify the maneuvering performance of seven species of free-swimming baleen whale. We found that as body size increases, absolute maneuvering performance decreases: larger whales use lower accelerations and perform slower pitch-changes, rolls and turns than smaller species. We also found that baleen whales exhibit positive allometry of maneuvering performance: relative to their body size, larger whales use higher accelerations, and perform faster pitch-changes, rolls and certain types of turns than smaller species. However, not all maneuvers were impacted by body size in the same way, and we found that larger whales behaviorally adjust for their decreased agility by using turns that they can perform more effectively. The positive allometry of maneuvering performance suggests that large whales have compensated for their increased body size by evolving more effective control surfaces and by preferentially selecting maneuvers that play to their strengths.

SUBMITTER: Segre PS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8976943 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations.

Segre Paolo S PS Gough William T WT Roualdes Edward A EA Cade David E DE Czapanskiy Max F MF Fahlbusch James J Kahane-Rapport Shirel R SR Oestreich William K WK Bejder Lars L Bierlich K C KC Burrows Julia A JA Calambokidis John J Chenoweth Ellen M EM di Clemente Jacopo J Durban John W JW Fearnbach Holly H Fish Frank E FE Friedlaender Ari S AS Hegelund Peter P Johnston David W DW Nowacek Douglas P DP Oudejans Machiel G MG Penry Gwenith S GS Potvin Jean J Simon Malene M Stanworth Andrew A Straley Janice M JM Szabo Andrew A Videsen Simone K A SKA Visser Fleur F Weir Caroline R CR Wiley David N DN Goldbogen Jeremy A JA

The Journal of experimental biology 20220302 5

Despite their enormous size, whales make their living as voracious predators. To catch their much smaller, more maneuverable prey, they have developed several unique locomotor strategies that require high energetic input, high mechanical power output and a surprising degree of agility. To better understand how body size affects maneuverability at the largest scale, we used bio-logging data, aerial photogrammetry and a high-throughput approach to quantify the maneuvering performance of seven spec ...[more]

PMID: 35234874

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Project description:Background:Family Cetotheriidae sensu stricto and several closely related taxa comprise the Cetotherioidea and represent a lineage of Neogene baleen whales that includes the smallest edentulous baleen whales in Earth history. Most of known cetotheriids came from the Late Miocene to Quaternary, and the earliest records from the latest Middle Miocene. The Paratethys region shows a great diversity of Middle to Late Miocene cetotheriids. That includes nominative taxon of the family, Cetotherium rathkii, and this suggests that the earliest cetotheriids may have lived in that region. Materials and methods:Here, Ciuciulea davidi, a new genus and species from the Middle Miocene of southeastern Europe, is described as the chronologically earliest and earliest diverging member of Cetotheriidae. Also, a new specimen of Otradnocetus, a basal Cetotherioidea sensu Gol'din & Steeman, 2015 is identified from the Late Miocene deposits of Caucasus and compared with Otradnocetus virodovi from the Middle Miocene of the same region. Results and discussion:Ciuciulea davidi is a dwarf whale displaying primitive traits: posterior ends of facial bones forming a single transverse line, a narrow occipital shield, and a relatively long interparietal region. Meanwhile, it shares some cetotheriid apomorphies: posteriorly telescoped wedge-shaped facial bones and an ovoid tympanic bulla with shallow lateral and medial furrows, a short anterior lobe and a short sigmoid process. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Parietobalaena and Otradnocetus are branches diverging before the clade Cetotheriidae + Neobalaenidae. This is confirmed by the stepwise evolution of the anatomy of the squamosal, mandible, and ear bones across these groups. The re-described juvenile specimen of Otradnocetus differs from O. virodovi in the more primitive anatomy of the mandible and the autapomorphic anatomy of the humerus. Records of the earliest cetotheriids and related taxa in the Paratethys support the idea that this could be the region where Cetotheriidae evolved before their worldwide dispersal and radiation.

Dataset Information

Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations.

Publications

Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations.

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