Paul Spong - Whale Research

Whale Research

Dr. Spong started his research on Skana by testing her eyesight. This was done by rewarding the whale (with a herring filet) every time she distinguished between one or two horizontal lines. However, Paul soon noticed that Skana's enthusiasm had waned and her success rate fell to 0%. After some research, Dr. Spong contemplated whether the whale was trying to communicate with him and giving him wrong answers on purpose. This was the first breakthrough Paul had in understanding orcas' complex communication system.

In April 1968, a second orca, Hyak was captured and brought to the Aquarium. Hyak was kept in a separate pool from Skana. Dr. Spong thought that Hyak was in deep depression after being captured, and thus tried to stimulate the orca by conductive experiments. Paul learned the importance of acoustics for orcas through these experiments. He noticed that when the two whales swam together in the same pool they vocalized and sung together. Thus Dr. Spong started experimenting with music and sound and noticed Hyak's recovery from lethargy.

Dr. Paul Spong believed that his frequent interactions with the whales allowed him to communicate with them. He established this after an event involving Skana. The whale would brush her teeth against the Dr. Spong's feet repeatedly until he no longer pulled them out of the water. Dr. Spong considered this a conscious deconditioning of his fear by the whale. After this event Dr. Spong started freely swimming with the whales on a regular basis.