A Tail Lobbing, Open-jawed Reunion with Rap the Sperm Whale

Rap the gregarious cachalot demonstrates a series of tail lobs to express her excitement, followed by several moments of face-to-face interaction and an exuberant open-mouthed greeting at :57. You'll see her lower jaw wiggling as though she is carrying on a conversation. While she may be emitting sound during this exchange, the frequencies are beyond our human capacity to hear.

This encounter was fascinating because we had met Rap during our field observations two years earlier. At that time we interacted with her on several consecutive days during which she was curious, personable, and very playful. She punctuated our final encounter that year with several distinctive tail lobs.

Fast forward to this delightful footage... we only saw Rap's social unit once during this more recent field observation period. They were traveling north at a steady pace and we entered the water twice for brief, distant views of members of her social group.

Content to let them continue traveling without our intrusion, we slowed to begin motoring south. Suddenly Rap pealed away from her group to swim back towards us. She approached the boat and waited for me to enter the water. Within moments she inverted and began to tail lob with glee. After the tail lobbing session, she deliberately approached and appeared to give me a thorough 'once over', mouth agape with her lower jaw quivering.

She approached several more times to visit (more video clips to be posted soon) before speeding north to re-join her family unit.

It was one of the most heartwarming reunions of my life! Learn more about Rap here: @rap-2008/