16 articles · Updated · Scientific American · May 5
The study reviewed 66 boat, drone and in-water images and videos posted on social media from 2014 to 2025, led by Macquarie University scientist Vanessa Pirotta in Australia.
Researchers defined gaping as whales holding their mouths open outside feeding events and said possible explanations include play, socialising, baleen cleaning, jaw dislocation or stretching.
Published in Animal Behavior and Cognition, the findings suggest tourism operators and citizen scientists could help document rare whale behaviours using increasingly high-quality cameras.
Is the 'gaping' of humpback whales a playful discovery, or a silent warning about the health of our oceans?
As AI decodes whale communication, are we on the verge of granting legal personhood to other intelligent species?
If AI helps us 'talk' to whales, what ethical rules are needed for our first conversations with another species?