Livestreaming: Hunting with the Ocean's Giants

Whales are the largest animals ever to have lived on Earth. With their extreme adaptations to life in water, they rank among the most remarkable mammals - yet they were once regarded as floating oil reserves and hunted to the brink of extinction. Today there is growing understanding that ocean ecosystems depend entirely on whales as apex predators.

For many years, researchers could only study whales during the brief time they spend at the surface, or by dissecting dead animals. New technology - drones and measuring equipment fitted with suction cups - now makes it possible to follow them while they hunt at great depths far out at sea.

The lecture takes the harbour porpoise, the world's smallest whale, on a hunt in Danish waters. Using deep-sea cameras, researchers attempt to understand how the sperm whale finds food at depths exceeding 1,000 metres. Along the way, you'll hear about how a Greenland whale avoids freezing to death in Disko Bay, and how a humpback whale mother can feed and nurse a calf without eating anything for half a year. The lecture also explores how we can move forward in sustainable coexistence with these apex predators.

This is an updated version of a lecture from the spring semester 2019.