With the Giants of the Sea on the Hunt // Livestream from Aarhus University

Whales are the largest animals ever to have lived on Earth, and with their extreme adaptations to life in water, they are among the most unique mammals. They were once seen as floating oil depots and were hunted to near extinction, but today there is a growing understanding that the marine ecosystems are entirely dependent on whales as keystone species.

For many years, researchers have only been able to gain insight into whales' lives by studying them during the short time they spend at the ocean surface or by dissecting dead whales and from there guessing how they live. But new technology, using drones and measuring equipment attached to whales with suction cups, now gives researchers unique opportunities to study whale biology while they hunt at great depths far out at sea.

In this lecture, professor of sensory physiology Peter Teglberg Madsen will take you, among other things, with the world's smallest whale, the harbor porpoise, on the hunt in Danish waters. With deep-sea cameras, we try to understand how the world's largest toothed whale, the sperm whale, finds food while hunting at depths of more than 1,000 meters. You will also hear about how a bowhead whale avoids freezing to death while feeding on billions of tiny prey animals in Disko Bay, and how a humpback whale mother can give birth and nurse a calf without eating anything for half a year.

Along the way, Peter Teglberg Madsen also sheds light on how we can live in sustainable coexistence with these important keystone species in a changing world.

The lecture is part of Aarhus University's series of "Public Lectures in Natural Sciences".

The lecture is livestreamed to Egtved Library. The livestream starts at 7 PM. Doors close at 6:45 PM.

Free admission. Just show up - registration is not necessary.