Humpback whales skin on the sand as they cross the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Griffith University reports.
Olaf Meinecke and colleagues placed CATS trackers on the skins of these whales to monitor their movements. In addition, a camera was installed at CATS, which makes it possible to record the activities of these animals.
It turned out that whales migrating from the bay off the Gold Coast make grooves up to 49 m deep on the seafloor covered with fine sand or gravel. In tropical and subtropical waters, oysters attach to whales at an early age and must be removed regularly by whales to prevent overgrowth that makes swimming difficult. Scientists believe that these rolls are necessary to tear the shells.
It was also noticed that skin particles came out of the whales during the slits. Therefore, rubbing on the sand was like a spa treatment for rubbing people’s skin. Juvenile silverbacks have also been observed to actively feed on the skin of the whales during cleaning – meaning that this type of behavior is likely ancient and other species have adapted and turned it to their advantage.
ancient biologists can Treats memory impairment in mice with Alzheimer’s disease.