23 October 2009

Two wonderful whale videos at the BBC

I can't embed them here, so you'll need to go to the links. The one posted today is of humpback whales battling for the right to mate with a female. The "battles" per se are not dramatic or bloody - mostly pushing and shoving - but these are 40-ton creatures, and just the "call" of the female (slapping the water with her fin like a beaver slaps with its tail) is impressive. One also has to admire the enthusiasm/bravery of the divers who entered the water (without scuba gear) to do some of the filming. The mating itself is not on the video (has never been filmed). The excerpt is from the David Attenborough-hosted BBC series "Life."

While I was viewing that video I noticed a sidebar link to an older one - a brief clip of a white humpback whale off the coast of Queensland.

3 comments:

  1. Did anyone else notice that the player goes to "11." I wonder if that was on purpose...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7rWiY5obI

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  2. I can't get it to play. Just the little circle of dots going round and round.

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  3. Legal - I don't know what you mean.

    Swift - Both of them worked for me just now - in fact one of them (white whale) auto-started (which I hate). If that's the one that doesn't work for you, perhaps your security settings are preventing it from playing.

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