Sperm Whale Aggregation and Group Poop

Here are a couple more images from my encounter with the big(!!!) aggregation of sperm whales last year.

The first shows a large group of whales departing the scene of a massive get-together, where they talked, rubbed against one another, scraped off unwanted skin, and pooped up a storm.

You can see bits of skin in the water, as well as the dispersing cloud of cetacean emissions in the background.

sperm whale aggregation defecating
A lot of sperm whales, leaving behind a big mess (License image)

And here's what the lounging leviathans looked like when they were clumped together, doing their thing, just prior to breaking up as pictured above.

sperm whales defecating en masse
Physeter macrocephalus defecating en masse (License image)

Taking massive dumps like this seems to be an integral part of large social gatherings for these animals...a group poop, so to speak. For what it's worth, they seem to enjoy the experience, or at least, they don't seem to mind being in a cloud of their own emissions.