Whales - Facts | Mating Rituals

Mating Rituals

The female whale is the one responsible for deciding whether the bull trying to get her attention will be the father of her calf. It is imperative that she makes a sound decision as the bull’s health and strength determines that of the newborn calf. Due to these factors, there is a fair amount of competition among the males when the time arises for them to find a suitable mate.

Mating only takes place once every two years, on average, for the sexually mature cow. Males travelling in bachelor pods will search out the matriarchal pods and then begin their mating attempts, trying to impress the cows with their singing, and sometimes fighting, performances.

The most common method that bulls will use to woo their female counterparts is singing. Whales use their ability to sing to serenade receptive cows. Research has shown that whales are even able to adapt their songs in order to outdo other competing males, making their singing abilities bigger and better than the next. In fact, these songs have been to shown to have repetitive “verses”, likened to the chorus of human songs. Whales are even able to rhyme the verses of these songs to ensure that the cow in question notices the most skilled singer of all of the bachelors, according to research. This singing sounds to humans like a series of squeaks, notes and clicks, but to whales they are each unique mantras of gentle invitation.

While bulls make extensive use of their musical abilities, there exist other tactics to securing a willing mate. Narwhal males have a large tusk protruding from their top lip. Because Narwhals travel in large bachelor pods of about 30 bulls, there is sometimes stiff competition for a mate. In these cases, males will cross trunks and battle one another in font of the prospective female mates. Even other whales often resort to fighting one another for a female. As a result, many bulls have bodies covered in scars and gouges, and even partial dorsal fins as testimony to these battles. During these battles, females and calves in the vicinity do well to vacate the area to avoid being hurt by the battling males, as these encounters become vigorous and violent.

Once the female has approved of the romantic attempts of one of the males, they will go through a brief courtship period, much like the human concept of dating. Once they feel that they know one another sufficiently, they will mate, abdomen-to-abdomen.

After mating, some male species will stick to the cow and they will travel together in a family pod, in which the bull’s role will be to protect the cow and calf. Other species do not require that the male fulfil any sort of protective or paternal role, and he will return to his bachelor pod after copulation.