Beachcomber Magazine 03

the males go off to hunt in the Arctic waters and only return to reproduce, sometimes ten years later. “ They are real individuals, each with their own temperament. Eliot is expansive, Arthur is shy, Roméo never strays far from his mother Lucy... And they recognise us individually too. Irène has a particular liking for the under- water cameraman René Heuzey! ” says François Sarano with a smile. A MODEL SOCIETY The team goes diving several times a year to analyse the behaviour patterns of this matriarchal society with its highly developed maternal and protective instinct, its codes, its language, and even its “culture”. Each pod has its own dialect. Irène’s uses sound expressions (or “codas”) of 8 clicks – in other regions, like the Azores, the sequences are shorter, with just 4 to 5 clicks. “ We try to associate the various codas linked to their behaviour patterns. For example, they emit a specific sequence when they want to initiate physical contact. Because once their elementary needs have been met, they spend their time caressing each other! Their society is the epitome of solidarity and altruism, and this has enabled them to survive in a hostile environment where they cannot even breathe! ” WILDLIFE IS SACRED Sperm whales have been around since the dawn of time – their shapes can be seen on the walls of prehistoric caves. Before they were hunted, up until the 1980s, there were one million sperm whales in the oceans. Today there are no more than 300,000 and in spite of the ban on hunting, the species is still endangered, threatened by chemical pollution in the oceans, which contaminates even the foetuses. “ Nature has nothing to gain from us, but we have everything to lose if we ignore this friendly hand extended by our fellow creatures in the wild, ” warns François Sarano. “ Because if we do, those creatures will disappear in total indifference and, captive in our urban and virtual world, we will discover to our horror how truly alone we are. Meeting and interacting with creatures in the wild, where respect for others is paramount, is the best school of life in a society. It forces us to cast off all our outer layers to reach out to others, thereby enabling us to forge a new relationship, simpler, more peaceful, more primeval and sensual, with ourselves. ”  Left: Sperm whales sleep in a vertical position. A supreme moment of calm and silence. Right: Overall champion of diving without equipment, this mammal can stay underwater for an hour and a half without breathing to hunt for squid more than 2,000 metres deep, before surfacing. Gauche : Les cachalots dorment en chandelle. Moment souverain de calme et de silence. Droite : Champion toute catégorie de l’apnée, ce mammifère peut rester une heure et demie sans respirer pour chasser le calmar à plus de 2 kilomètres de profondeur, avant de reprendre sa respiration à la surface. 