Offshore encounters – 2025/08
The sperm whale, diving champion
The sperm whale is a true diving champion! When it hunts in the deep, it can stay 40 to 50 minutes without breathing. And that’s not all: some can exceed an hour (some sources mention up to ~2 hours in certain cases).
Little twist: the duration record among marine mammals actually goes to Cuvier’s beaked whale, able to dive for several hours.
Sperm whale nurseries
Sperm whale calves are never alone: they grow up in real “nurseries”, a kind of crèche out at sea. While some adults move away to feed, the females stay together to watch over, protect and accompany the young.
The result: real group organisation… and a solidarity that increases young sperm whales’ chances of survival.
Pilot whales
Pilot whales are true clan animals: they live in tight-knit family groups that stay together for a long time. In some populations, genetic studies even show that members of a “pod” can form a large extended family. What makes them so fascinating is their curious and highly social side: they interact a lot, coordinate, and several groups can also gather temporarily (notably for interactions and reproduction).
In short: ultra-connected cetaceans with very strong social bonds… so much so that they are sadly known for mass strandings, when an individual in difficulty is “followed” by the group.