Off the coast of Mauritius, the moving story of an oceanographer who formed a unique relationship with a sperm whale

It is an extraordinary scientific experiment that has been taking place off the coast of Mauritius since 2013. Rather than studying the life of sperm whales by observing their sounds and movements from the surface, the team of François Sarano – former advisor to the Commander Cousteau aboard the Calypso – chose to go through the looking glass and immerse himself in their world.

Year after year, researchers observed, recorded and filmed scenes from the daily life of members of Irène’s matriarchal clan. Each has their first name or nickname to signify that they are unique living beings, with their personality and their history. Among them: Eliot, born in 2011, whom the oceanographer nicknames the “Marco Polo of sperm whales”, because of his curious character.

A relationship has been forged between them since that day when the marine animal invited the diver to dance. “I felt this challenge with an overwhelming force,” testifies François Sarano. By considering me as a living creature among other living beings, Eliot gave me back a primitive innocence. The one before the time when humans almost exterminated its species by hunting it. »

A closeness in the form of reconciliation which does not prevent the awareness of an “impenetrable wall between our world and theirs”. Being a sperm whale will forever remain a mystery as deep as the abyss.