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In article <1992Jul27.142023.28312@news.acns.nwu.edu> dsk@nwu.edu writes:
>I was at the aquarium/oceanarium in Chicago last weekend, and noticed that
>the two Beluga whales in a large tank were doing something rather strange.
>
>They were just breaking the surface from underwater, collecting a small bit
>of air, and blowing it under water into perfect rings (similar to smoke rings.)
>After the rings spun and grew and moved a bit, the whales would swim down and
>bite part of the ring, or try to swim through it, until it collapsed.  Then
>they went back to the surface, and did it again.
>
>A staff member there told me that the whales had just started this within the
>last month, and the staff had no idea why they were doing it.
>
>Is this common behaviour of whales in captivity, or in the wild?  Does it
>serve a function?  Do other animals play in a manner similar to this?
>
>Thanks for any information,
>Dan
>-- 
>Dan Katz                                                       dsk@nwu.edu
>Dept. of Electrical Engineering                             1(708)491-8887
>Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208                E pur si muove


I have no idea why whales do it or if it is common behavior, but I 
have seen sea lions at the local zoo make bubble rings as well.

El Gates

egates@triton.unm.edu

This may or may not be applicable to Belugas, but there are some species of
whale that blow rings as a means of prey capture.  I saw a TV doco which showed
whales off Alaska blowing bubble rings to herd up fish or other prey, and then
dive down, coming up through the ring at the surface, mouth open.  I guess in
the pool it may be a result of confinement, boredom or some such, but there
_is_ a purpose in the wild.  I've also heard of dolphins playing with making
bubbles and such from their blowholes.

Mike

The "Blowing Rings" of the Beluga whales that dsk@casbah.acns.nwu.edu 
(Daniel Katz) has observed seems to be one typical manifestation of that
whales "creativity" in playing, which was observed at several whale species
in zoo as well as in free nature. 

--
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keulen@csuvax1.csu.murdoch.edu.au (Michael VanKeulen) writes:
>This may or may not be applicable to Belugas, but there are some species of
>whale that blow rings as a means of prey capture.  I saw a TV doco which showed

You are confusing two kinds of bubble rings.  What you are talking about
is the whales' practice of swimming in a circle while blowing air, creating
a wall of bubbles around a school of fish.

The subject under discussion, however, involves a whale blowing a *single*
small burst of air, which forms an unbroken ring-shaped bubble underwater,
much like a smoker blowing a smoke ring.  I remember in scuba class we
were taught to blow these bubble rings from the bottom of a diving pool.
We'd lie on the bottom blowing bubbles.  They'd start out as small, fat
tori, and gradually grow to about 4 or 5 feet in diameter and about 1/4"
thickness before breaking up.  They generated an interesting current of
water spinning around the body of the ring, resulting in an upwelling
in the center.

>the pool it may be a result of confinement, boredom or some such, but there
>_is_ a purpose in the wild.  I've also heard of dolphins playing with making

There is a purpose to a circular wall of bubbles.  But what about the
bubble rings?


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In article <c7lm+5g@lynx.unm.edu> egates@triton.unm.edu (EL GATES) writes:
>In article <1992Jul27.142023.28312@news.acns.nwu.edu> dsk@nwu.edu writes:

>>They were just breaking the surface from underwater, collecting a small bit
>>of air, and blowing it under water into perfect rings (similar to smoke rings.)
>>After the rings spun and grew and moved a bit, the whales would swim down and
>>bite part of the ring, or try to swim through it, until it collapsed.  Then
>>they went back to the surface, and did it again.

>I have no idea why whales do it or if it is common behavior, but I 
>have seen sea lions at the local zoo make bubble rings as well.

Some whales catch fish this way. They encircle part of shoal with a
rising ring of bubbles, and then charge up the middle of the ring with
their mouths wide open. I saw this on a TV wildlife film, in a
location famous for this behaviour at a certain time of year -- the
whales turn up at the right time for the fish harvest.
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205