POOP FOUNTAIN
Looking back, the 24th of July was a special day. We had a lot of active breaching and tail slapping behaviour from the 6 whales in the bay that day. But a certain whale stole the show completly by tail slapping for close to an hour, revealing its genital area for us to see and allowing us to tentatively confirm: Popeye is a female.
Close to the end of the acrobatic burst, Popeye also started to poop while continuing to tail slap, creating one of the funniest moments our crew have ever seen. This had us wondering if there is any link between tail slapping and pooping, since all of the movement could potentially help with passing stool. This is not the first time I personally have noticed this link, I have observed pooping after tail slapping in other whales in our bay as well as in Canada.
There was no research in this area unfortunately as far as I could find. So, for now it still remains a mystery but also a hilarious moment.
Text & Photos: Charlie Carbunescu (guide)
