Understanding Whale and Dolphin Behavior

Breaching is among the most spectacular of cetacean behaviors that you might observe because it involves the cetacean emerging partially or fully from the water. During a breach, the whale, dolphin or porpoise launches itself headfirst into the air and then falls back down to the water (often with quite a splash). The smaller cetaceans such as dolphins and porpoises can launch their entire bodies out of the water but larger cetaceans (for example, whales) usually emerge only part of their body during a breach.