Who Likes to Cuddle in the Dark?
Besides me, that is? Pilot whales, the long finned, social variety that travel together in large pods are also cuddlers especially in the deep dark depths of the oceans. Two long finned pilot whales were tracked (after being fitted with a camera and pressure sensors to provide depth readings) off the Norwegian coast by some Japanese researchers. The whales were recorded making 62 dives together of 30 meters or less and 2 deep dives of over 500 meters nearly to the seabed. The camera revealed that the two whales touched each other frequently, brushing their bodies together (cuddling) and stroking each other with their flippers. The whales also stayed close, with in 3 meters, 75% of the time during these dives. Yep, those long finned pilot whales, that may for all practical purposes not look all that cuddly, are definitely cuddlers.