Scientific Lecture from Aarhus University: Hunting with the Ocean's Giants - Sensory Physiology with Peter Teglberg Madsen

The world's largest ocean animals have lived hidden lives far from the coast until recent years. New technology - drones and measuring equipment attached to whales with suction cups - now allows researchers to study whales directly as they hunt in the depths.

Sensory physiologist Peter Teglberg Madsen takes the audience on a hunt through both Danish waters and the open ocean. We follow the harbour porpoise, the world's smallest whale, in Danish waters, and through deep-sea cameras we try to understand how the sperm whale finds food at depths exceeding 1,000 metres. The lecture also explores how a Greenland whale avoids freezing to death while feeding on billions of tiny prey in Disko Bay, and how a humpback whale mother can nurse her calf without eating for half a year.

Whales were once regarded as floating oil reserves and hunted to the brink of extinction. Today we know they play a crucial role as apex predators in ocean ecosystems. The lecture concludes with a look at how we can move forward in sustainable coexistence with them.