Incredible Humpback Whale Facts

03/03/2024

Whale, Hello There 🐋

On a guided trip off the island of Mo’orea in French Polynesia, Hieu Tran's group received a surprise “swim-by” from a mother humpback whale.

“I felt as if she was triple-checking that we were harmless,” says Tran, who then watched as the whale’s calf, pictured, put on a 20-minute dance show before the mother returned and led the baby away.

🥈: Second Place | Mobile
📸: Hieu Tran

2023 National Wildlife Photo Contest Winners 📲: https://ow.ly/aOzY50QnTIm

23/02/2024

Humpback Whales Stay Pregnant For 11 Months

Female humpback whales give birth every 2-3 years, after 11 months of gestation. The baby humpback whales are known as calves, and they come out with a length of 13-16 feet. They also weigh about 1-2 tons. Their 11-month gestation period makes more sense when you consider these incredible sizes.

The calves stay under the care and watch of their mothers for about a year before forging their own paths. While they often have no special bonds with their mothers past the weaning periods, baby humpback whales have been observed to stay in the same feeding grounds as their mothers.

23/02/2024

Humpback Whales Can Live Up To 80 Years

Remember when we mentioned that humpback whales do not actually have teeth? Well, the absence of teeth has made it difficult for scientists to actually determine their lifespan accurately. However, most scientists believe they live between 80-90 years which is pretty long, even for us humans.

23/02/2024

Humpback Whales Hunt As A Team

While it’s true that humpback whales characteristically travel solo, they sometimes team up to hunt. They have a hunting strategy known as “bubble-netting,” in which they blow bubbles around their prey, causing the fish to compress together. Once they move up the surface, the humpbacks would then open their mouths and try to swallow as much as they can in one go. Other times, they would add some scary noises into the mix to scare their prey into moving to the surface. Some splendid teamwork there, huh?

16/02/2024

Scientists Do Not Know Exactly Why Humpback Whales Sing

While most experts believe that singing is part of a mate selection process, scientists still can’t place a finger on the exact reason why humpback whales sing. Some scientists believe that the songs are more than just mating calls; they are also used as a form of identity and a way of marking ocean territory. However, all of these are just hypotheses, nothing concrete just yet.

12/02/2024

The Best Photograph Of Single Humpback

12/02/2024

Humpback whales, like all mammals, have hair! The raised bumps on their rostrum, around the mouth, are extra large hair follicles. They have about a hundred individual hairs, but their function is still not completely known.

Photo taken by Jorge Vasconez

12/02/2024

Humpback Whales Sing Songs

Humpback whales are also known for their ability to sing songs. The singing is typically done by the males, especially during the winter breeding season. The songs are part of an extended series of calls shared by male humpback whales living within 3,000 miles of one another. A humpback whale song lasts between 10-20 minutes, after which it becomes a repetitive anthem lasting hours.

Research revealed that the songs could change after a while. and all the members of the original humpback whale choir would switch to the new song. Isn’t that fascinating? Even more fascinating is another study that revealed humpback whales in the Oceania region would often arrange a meet at the Kermadec Islands, where they would share their songs.

06/02/2024

06/02/2024

Humpback Whales Migrate The Farthest

One of the most interesting facts about humpback whales is their ability to migrate as far as 16,000 miles in a year. That’s the most for any extant creature in the animal kingdom. They are known for leaving the polar climates in the summer for the tropical climate in the winter, where they mostly just mate and live off their fast reserves. Talk about a vacation!