Monica
Humpback whales, yes they are my favourite!
Maybe I am slightly biased by the fact that I spent 3 months seeing them every single day when I was doing my internship in the U.S.
Seeing them every day, allowed me to see all sorts of behaviours, from the calm to the most ecstatic days.
So here is a little blog for you to learn some of the many special qualities these majestic giants have!
What is a Humpback whale?
It is a Baleen whale that can be found in all oceans around the world; from coastal waters to the deep open ocean. However, where they can be found also depends on the temperature and the time of year.
What do they eat?
By being Baleen whales, they are able to filter feed through baleen plates which grow in rows from their upper jaw and can reach 3m in length. They filter feed on krill as well as small crustaceans and fish. Of course, due to their size, they need a lot of food, in fact, they eat up to 1400kg of food a day!
The techniques they use to feed is a whole other beautiful story!
How big are they?
As much as they seem to be incredibly enormous, what makes this world so incredible is that they are not the biggest whales out there! Humpback whales can reach 14-29m in length, with females usually being slightly longer than the males and can weigh up to 30,000kg! Their flippers can grow 5 m long and their tails can grow up to 5.5 m wide.
How do they communicate?
Humpback whales, like many other whales, produce a number of vocalisations including moans, grunts, blasts, shrieks and groans. Let me tell you, those sounds can travel very very long distances… keep reading!
It was also discovered that different groups of Humpback whales from different areas of the world have their own “dialect”. How crazy is that?
What are whale songs?
Whale songs are one of the most sophisticated and complex forms of communication. The exact nature of what is being communicated isn’t conclusive, but researchers speculate that one of the reasons could be as a mating call.
Researchers estimate that some of the lowest frequency sounds can travel through the ocean as far as 10,000 miles without losing their energy.
Migrations
Humpbacks migrate annually from summer feeding grounds near the poles to warmer winter breeding waters closer to the Equator. Some individuals migrate up to 5000 miles!
Check out the picture on the side and see for yourself where they are going and when!
What does breaching mean?
When Humpback whales breach, they make huge jumps out of the water. Researchers keep investigating the reason behind this behaviour. It is thought that it is done for fun as well as to clean off parasites on their skin or to communicate with others.
Conservation status
Humpback whale numbers severely decreased (were classified as endangered) through commercial whaling until its ban in 1985. Today they are considered as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN Redlist, with their biggest threats being collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear.
I hope you start to love Humpback whales as much as I do. Now you know where and what time of the year you can find them. Take the time to go see them with a sustainable whale watching company & just enjoy seeing these majestic creatures.
Monica
Xxx
