112 WHALES 



picture is the duration of the observation, i.e. the time during which the 

 whale or dolphin keeps up the observed speed. Now we know perfectly 

 well that the speed of a sprinter is far greater than that of a long distance 

 runner, and the same applies to whales also. Moreover, dolphins in 

 particular like to ride the bow waves, and that is how they are usually 

 observed from ships. In so doing, they are said to 'surf-ride' almost passively, 

 or to be propelled by the water of the bow-wave welling up (Scholander, 

 1959), but these claims may be based on errors of observation, and special 

 caution is needed in accepting them (see Fejer and Backus, i960). Wood- 

 cock thinks that dolphins allow themselves to be carried by the ship's 

 waves, and that they subsequently surface by changing their specific 

 gravity. 



The Right Whales are very slow swimmers and rarely exceed 5 knots, 

 their average speed being 2 knots. Similar figures hold for the Grey 

 Whales, for which Wyrick obtained a maximum speed of 6-5 

 knots off the Californian coast. The Humpback, too, is a slow 

 swimmer. Chittleborough, who observed these animals near Point 

 Cloates (Australia) from a helicopter, established that they made just over 

 4 knots. Females accompanied by calves swam more slowly still (3 knots), 

 and the average speed during migrations is between i -3 and 3 -6 knots. 

 The second mate of S.S. Murena (Shell Tankers) noted a speed of 5 knots 

 for Humpbacks, and this agrees pretty well with Chittleborough's 

 figures. When chased, however, they may show bursts of 9-10 knots 

 (Dawbin). Sperm Whales are much faster. On S.S. Utrecht (Royal Rotter- 

 dam Lloyd), the third mate measured a speed of 10 knots, while other 

 observers measured 8, 12, 16 and even 20 knots. The faster speeds were 

 probably those of short spurts, and 10 knots would be a fair estimate of the 

 Sperm Whale's average speed. It must be remembered that Sperm Whales 

 like to preserve their energies, and that, as a rule, they prefer swimming 

 slowly. Blue and Fin Whales are said to be capable of keeping up a spurt 

 of 18 to 20 knots for 10-15 minutes, though their normal speed rarely 

 exceeds 14 knots, 10-12 knots being the average. Observations with the 

 Asdic apparatus have shown that even Fin Whales can achieve a sprint 

 of about 30 m.p.h. under water for a very short time. These differences 

 are not surprising when we consider that among athletes sprinters have 

 roughly twice or three times the speed of stayers. On S.S. Tamo, speeds of 

 14 to 18 knots were recorded for a Little Piked Whale. The champion 

 swimmer is probably the Sei Whale which is reported to reach a speed of 

 35 knots at the surface of the water, though Andrews states that the animal 

 cannot keep this up for long. The Sei Whale is therefore the aquatic 

 sprinter par excellence, just as the cheetah with its maximum speed of 

 65 m.p.h. is the leading sprinter among terrestrial mammals. 



