Asha de Vos. et al. collected surfacing and diving behaviors of a small population of Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus) that have been found to be genetically different from the Blue Whales found in the Atlantic ocean. The whales that are located in near the tip of Sri Lanka have a different vocals and also considered to be Dwarf Blue Whales, meaning that they are only about 4 meters shorted than Blue Whales found in the Atlantic. The primary question that was being asked was to quantify diving and surfacing characteristics of an isolated population of whales.

In order to answer the research question the team has both land focal follows for the whales as well as a small boat that would travel along side the whale to monitor and collect respiration data and diving patterns. The time at first surfacing, length of surface time, number of blows, and the time at final dive would all be written down in order to quantify the information. There were also different definitions for the ways in which the whale would fluke or if it would fluke at all.

The respiration data were separated into two categories, shorter surface dives and longer deep dive. The data was analyzed using a goodness of fit test and a chi squared test for r. The Monte Carlo method was also used to analyze the different probabilities of surfacing patterns. A Markov chain was also used to help analyze the data and found that there was a significant difference between the theoretical patterns and the Markov chain (p<0.0001). Surface to surface dive were much more common than surface to deep and it was noted that there was never a deep to deep dive. 55% of the deep dive had a fluke, 42% high arch and 3% lazy fluke. There was no significants between fluking and the absence or presence of whale watching boats (p> 0.05).

The overall information that was received from this article was that there is not a significant behavioral difference between the Blue Whale population in Sri Lanka and the one in the Atlantic Ocean. However, if you want to see a fluking Blue Whale you have a better chance in Sri Lanka.