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Hydrodynamic Properties Of Fin Whale Flippers Predict Maximum Rolling Performance, Paolo S. Segre, David E. Cade, Frank E. Fish, Jean Potvin, Ann N. Allen, John Calambokidis, Ari S. Friedlaender, Jeremy A. Goldbogen

Biology Faculty Publications

Maneuverability is one of the most important and least understood aspects of animal locomotion. The hydrofoil-like flippers of cetaceans are thought to function as control surfaces that effect maneuvers, but quantitative tests of this hypothesis have been lacking. Here, we constructed a simple hydrodynamic model to predict the longitudinal-axis roll performance of fin whales, and we tested its predictions against kinematic data recorded by on-board movement sensors from 27 free-swimming fin whales. We found that for a given swimming speed and roll excursion, the roll velocity of fin whales calculated from our field data agrees well with that predicted by …