Cartwright Rachel, Lyman Ed, Venema Amy, Currie Jens J, Stack Stephanie H, Pack Adam A, Bejder Lars, Van Aswegen Martin, Wright Sadie K, Horn Dorothy
The Keiki Koholā Project, Kihei, Hawaii, United States of America.
Department of Environmental Science and Resource Management, California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 15;20(4):e0321284. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321284. eCollection 2025.
Anthropogenic impacts on marine systems are increasing in frequency, geographic range and severity. While changes in climate will likely lead to the greatest impacts at the system-level, for marine megafauna, entanglement in marine debris also constitutes a pernicious threat. For baleen whales, in regions where high productivity and prolific fisheries overlap, entanglement is emerging as a component of their life history: In some of these regions, entanglement comprises the leading cause of serious injury and mortality. Additionally, up to 80% of whales carry scars indicative of entanglement, and associated declines in long-term health are reducing fecundity. Here, we describe behavioral traits seen in humpback whales during entanglement incidents. Specifically, we focus on reports of humpback whales that have remained in association with entangled whales during these incidents and apply the term "companion whales" in reference to these whales. Reports reviewed include a detailed account of a recent incident observed in Hawaiian waters, a compilation of 62 accounts of similar behavior extracted from 414 reports of entanglement events provided by regional entanglement response networks, and a series of six reports associated with whaling activities. The similarities between the current behavior of companion whales and behaviors observed during whaling activities suggest that this may be an example of behavioral plasticity, underscoring the expanding behavioral repertoire exhibited by baleen whales, and highlighting their potential resilience as they respond to the changing marine environment.
人类活动对海洋系统的影响在频率、地理范围和严重程度上都在增加。虽然气候变化可能会在系统层面导致最大的影响，但对于海洋巨型动物来说，被海洋垃圾缠住也构成了一种有害威胁。对于须鲸而言，在高生产力区域和丰富渔业重叠的地区，被缠住正成为它们生活史的一部分：在其中一些地区，被缠住是严重受伤和死亡的主要原因。此外，高达80%的鲸鱼身上有表明被缠住的伤疤，长期健康状况的下降正在降低繁殖力。在此，我们描述了座头鲸在被缠住事件中的行为特征。具体来说，我们关注在这些事件中与被缠住的鲸鱼待在一起的座头鲸的报告，并将这些鲸鱼称为“同伴鲸鱼”。所审查的报告包括对最近在夏威夷海域观察到的一起事件的详细描述、从区域缠住事件应对网络提供的414份缠住事件报告中提取的62份类似行为的汇总，以及与捕鲸活动相关的一系列六份报告。同伴鲸鱼当前的行为与捕鲸活动期间观察到的行为之间的相似性表明，这可能是行为可塑性的一个例子，强调了须鲸展现出的不断扩大的行为模式，并突出了它们在应对不断变化的海洋环境时的潜在恢复力。
