Humpback Whale

One of the most fascinating and recognizable marine animals is the humpback whale. The world’s oceans are home to these gentle giants, who are renowned for their enormous size and graceful movements. They are particularly well-known for their spectacular breaches, in which they dive into the water and return with a splash.

Humpbacks are not only known for their size but also for their complex songs. These vocalizations can travel vast distances underwater and are believed to play a role in communication between whales. Each population of humpback whales has its own unique song, which adds to the mystery of these majestic creatures.

These whales migrate thousands of miles annually between their feeding and breeding grounds, demonstrating their propensity for long-distance travel. It is truly amazing for anyone who is fortunate enough to witness them perform amazing acrobatic displays, considering their size. They are extremely agile.

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom: Animalia (animals)
• Type: Chordata (chordates)
• Class: Mammalia (mammals)
• Order: Cetartiodactyla (cetero-ungulates)
• Family: Balaenopteridae (minke whales)
• Genus: Megaptera (humpback whales)
• Species: Megaptera novaeangliae (humpback whale)

Geographical Range and Habitat

All oceans and several seas are home to humpback whales, also known as long-armed minke whales or humpback whales. Scientists have separated their total population into four subpopulations based on habitat:

• Atlantic;
• Northern Pacific;
• Southern Pacific;
• Indian Ocean.

The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are the migration routes for the first three subpopulations of humpback whales. The people who live in the Indian Ocean are primarily isolated and do not migrate. Asia (North), Antarctica (South), Australia and the Philippines (East), and Africa (West) are the boundaries of their range.

The Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans, as well as the waters surrounding Antarctica and the Bering Strait, are home to humpback whales. These whales can also be found in tropical and polar waters. They are found in deep ocean and coastal waters during their migration.

Physical characteristics

The size, shape, and color of humpbacks’ flippers and baleen are two of their most distinguishing external characteristics.

Appearance

A noticeable hump and a characteristic stocky body shape characterize humpbacks. Their backs are cloudy and dark in color. They have distinct tubercles all over their jaw and head, which are thought to be a distant memory of hair follicles.

Canadian Wildlife Federation photo

Muscle contractions cause the two-part blowholes on humpback whales to open simultaneously. The force with which the long-armed minke whale exhales causes the air to condense as soon as it comes into contact with the cold atmospheric air. An exhalation like that can rise up to three meters.

Fins

The tail fin has linear grooves and is heart-shaped, symmetrical, and broad. Its bottom is white, and its top is black. On the underside of the tail fin, each humpback whale has a distinct pattern that helps observers identify individual whales.

Patrick Davis in a picture

Out of all cetaceans, humpback whales have the longest pectoral fins, which can account for nearly one-third of the body length. The dorsal fin is small in relation to the body size and length of the other fins. Its shape is triangular, or humpbacked. This is particularly evident when long-armed minke whales leap over the water’s surface.

Whale baleen

The baleen plates in the humpback whale’s jaw are dark in color. The whale’s jaw’s rear plate can reach a length of 90 cm, while the front plates measure roughly 45 cm in length. They enable the animal to filter water, which causes the plankton in its mouth to dry out. A humpback whale’s mouth can contain between 270 and 400 horny plates.

Subcutaneous fat

Of all baleen whales, humpbacks have the thickest blubber relative to their size. Only blue whales, or blue whales, are thicker subcutaneous fat relative to them. Depending on the age, physical condition, and season, the blubber’s thickness changes.

Size

Larger than male humpback whales are the females. This characteristic is unique to this species of mammal.

• Body length: 13-14 meters, maximum 19 meters (males); 15-17 meters, maximum 27 meters (females)
• Weight: 25 tons, maximum 40 tons (males); 30 tons, maximum 90 tons (females)
• Length of pectoral fins: up to 6 meters
• Width of caudal fin: 2-3 meters

Known for their amazing migrations, intricate songs, and breathtaking displays of acrobatics, humpback whales are fascinating marine mammals. By controlling prey populations and influencing nutrient cycles, these gentle giants are essential to the ecosystem of the ocean. For their conservation, it is essential to comprehend their behavior, migration patterns, and the threats they face from things like pollution and climate change.

Feeding habits

A versatile hunter, humpback whales are similar to minke and fin whales. They are extremely nimble and perceptive. They eat crustaceans on the ocean floor or plankton, vegetation, and animals on the water’s surface. Humpbacks are therefore categorized as "swallowers" as opposed to "skimmers."

These baleen whales have large mouths that can hold large amounts of food and water because of ventral grooves that allow the throat to expand. The humpback shuts its mouth and expels water when it is full. The food hits the horny plates at the same moment and is subsequently swallowed. A strong tongue facilitates this process.

Because of their peculiar eating patterns, humpback whales only eat during the summer, depleting their blubber stores during the winter. Humpbacks feed very infrequently at this time of year, mostly by passively searching for food.

Pictured by Donna Pomeroy

Roughly 95% of the food that North Atlantic humpbacks eat consists of bone fish. These regions’ inhabitants consume krill, mackerel, sand lance, Atlantic salmon, sardines, haddock, anchovies, capelin, and loin.

In the northern Pacific Ocean, humpback whales consume pollock, greenling, saury, mackerel, and Arctic and Pacific cod. They consume a variety of invertebrates as well.

People in Australia and New Zealand love eating schooling fish, amphipods, bottom crustaceans, and krill. Much less frequently do cephalopods appear on their menu.

Hunting tactics

The simplest method of obtaining food is cooperative hunting (a group of six to fourteen whales, occasionally two or three when pursuing fish in shallow waters). A direct attack by circling the entire school and stunning the prey with tail whips is another tactic used by humpbacks. Although it is a more complicated method than that of other cetaceans, they can also feed themselves with baleen plates.

Humpbacks gradually close in on the fish by encircling it from below and the sides in tandem with other long-armed minke whales. A few of the group confuse the residents of shallow water by jumping over the surface and splattering water with their tails. A humpback whale dives as far below the surface as it can and lets out bubbles of air, which force the fish toward the surface. Next, the prey is attacked directly.

Fish that are beautiful and have low-frequency sounds are thought to have some of the most sophisticated hunting techniques.

Communication and perception

Male and female humpback whales have distinctive sounds. The male "call sign" consists of lengthy, loud sound sequences known as songs. Low-frequency sounds with varying pitches and amplitudes make up each song. A song can last up to 20 minutes, however male singers have been known to sing continuously for 24 hours, pausing only to take breaths. It is important to note that hunchbacks have no vocal cords; instead, they only make music by exhaling through enormous breathing holes.

Every subpopulation has a unique repertoire of songs. During migration, new sounds are "picked up" from the groups that are encountered and with which novices voluntarily communicate.

Scientists have not yet determined the purpose of these songs. Although it was previously thought that male sounds were a form of courtship, it has been discovered that other males are also responsive to these signals. It is therefore thought that this communication style contributes to the establishment of a male hierarchy in a particular setting. As previously noted, low-frequency sound waves are another tool used by humpback whales during hunting to confuse their prey.

Social structure

Although they occasionally live in small, transient groups that only come together for a few hours, humpback whales are loners. During the summer, these mammals tend to prefer company. The group’s objective is to hunt fish and crab schools. Females form the strongest bonds with their young.

Humpbacks do not exhibit any signs of interspecies activity, even though they share habitats with their cetacean relatives. The Hawaiian region is the sole exception, as juvenile long-armed minke whales frequently swim alongside bottlenose dolphins.

Humpbacks occasionally act aggressively toward their relatives. People who are "accompagnating" the cubs turn hostile when other humpbacks approach the pack. Occasionally, they produce a "screen" by blowing bubbles out of their mouths or blowholes. The majority of "followers" are assumed to be men.

Generally speaking, solitary whales are less aggressive than groups of humpbacks. Tail slapping and body bumping are examples of aggressive or defensive behavior. Such hostility may also be aimed at boats that are approaching. Along with numerous seabirds and other cetaceans, humpback whales may come across them in their hunt for food.

Seasonal Migration

Seasonally, humpback whales travel from tropical regions to northern feeding grounds. They are found in dense groups on shallow shores in the tropics. Usually, they move from feeding grounds to breeding grounds to the deep ocean. In deep water as opposed to shallow water, they are more widely dispersed.

Alongside the climate cycle, humpback whales migrate between the northern and southern latitudes. Two factors are closely linked to migration: reproduction and nutrition. Minke whales frequently migrate from shallow tropical shores—where humpback whales breed in the winter—to colder waters, where they feed in the spring, summer, and fall. When a land mass is in their direct path during their migration, these cetacean mammals also frequently travel through coastal waters.

In subarctic waters, humpbacks first appear in large numbers in the spring and stay there through the summer. It appears that humpbacks migrate in search of warmer waters to give birth to their young.

When humpback diving, they descend to 6-7 meters and remain submerged for 15–20 minutes. Swimming speeds range from 3.8 to 14.3 km/h during migration, and they can reach 27 km/h. Individual humpback whales move faster than those in groups, and humpback whales with calves swim the slowest.

Breeding season and development of young

As they migrate to equatorial regions in the winter, humpback whales attempt to court possible partners. Additionally, the man might express interest in a mother or a pregnant woman.

Males can distinguish females from below thanks to a hemispherical lobe in the genital area of the female that has a diameter of approximately 15 cm. The male reproductive organ is typically concealed by a unique skin fold, and scars from fights with bigger opponents cover their back and head.

Typically, shoals of 20–30 males encircle a female or a small group of females to show off their skills:

• jumping above the surface of the water;
• slapping the water with their tails;
• turning over on their backs and alternately slapping the water with their pectoral fins;
• raising the dorsal part of the head horizontally to the surface, and then diving back under the water without moving forward.

Pictured by Andrew Hendry

Since new suitors quickly replace rejected males, such performances can go on for several hours.

There aren’t many reliable scientific studies on this kind of copulation. The male and female are known to swim in a line first, then to roll, flip, and flick their tails. Following that, they both dive and come up vertically, their ventral surfaces "in close contact." Together, the two come out of the water to a point below the flippers and return to the water’s surface.

More than 11 months pass during a pregnancy. The embryo grows between 17 and 35 cm every month during this time. Because females are viviparous, their newborns can grow to be six meters long and weigh up to two tons (the size of the calf is determined by the mother’s size). Because their tails are born first, whales’ lungs are shielded from the water. A baby humpback whale has a soft structure to its fins that makes it an awkward swimmer that needs assistance from its mother to get around.

Hawaii Magazine photo

After birth, its primary objective is to surface and inhale its first breath. A humpback whale calf’s hearing and vision are superb. After being breastfed for roughly six months, he feeds himself for the remaining six months. The females produce very nutritious milk that is high in fat, protein, lactose, and water.

After a year and a half, the young start swimming alongside the adults when they go hunting, learning how to catch food by blowing bubbles of air. When they turn two years old, they become authorities on this subject. At four years old, the children are totally on their own.

Though it can happen twice every three years, reproduction typically happens every two years. The latter scenario sees lactation continue for more than five months. A female may experience simultaneous pregnancy and lactation if she is fertilized soon after giving birth.

Lewis Burnett took this picture.

• Mating system: polygamous
• Breeding interval: every 1.5-2 years
• Average number of offspring: one cub
• Gestational period: from 11 to 11.5 months
• Range of age of sexual or reproductive maturity: from 4 to 5 years (both males and females)

Lifespan

Humpback whales live between 45 and 100 years. Nonetheless, current research indicates that their lifespan may reach 200 years. Amino acid analysis has verified the record at 211 years.

Humans are the only natural enemy of long-armed minke whales. Sharks eat the dead bodies of juveniles, and killer whales frequently target them.

White, oval-shaped scars on some humpbacks are remnants of parasitic sea lampreys. Out of all minke whales, humpback whales are the most parasitized. They are home to a diverse range of endo- and ectoparasites. The rapid swimming of this species may be the cause of the high parasite population. It’s thought that parasites can proliferate because humpbacks move slowly.

Pictured by Donna Pomeroy

Economic importance to humans

Humans have historically placed a great deal of economic value on humpback whales. Whalers actively hunted nine different species of whales, including these ones. They were the most significant component of their catch at times. Both as a machine lubricant and as fuel for lamps, humpback oil was in high demand. Whale oil was also a component of cooking oil and a raw material for margarine. Meat from humpback whales was prepared for human consumption and fed to animals. Fertilizer made of whale bone meal was utilized.

But there is no longer a significant hunt for these animals. Given the current popularity of ecotourism and whale watching tours, they still hold some economic significance for people.

However, humpback whales that remain near the Canadian east coast’s shores frequently rip long stretches of net and damage cod and herring traps.

Conservation status

Up to 60,000 humpback whales can be found in the waters around the planet right now. The western portion of the North Atlantic is home to the largest populations. Although scientists are still concerned about the species, global humpback populations have started to rise.

When the International Whaling Commission put a stop to commercial whaling in 1985, humpback whales gained some protection. When modern whaling began in the early 20th century, humpback whales were particularly vulnerable because they tended to gather in tropical breeding grounds and approach the coast in northern feeding grounds.

Between 1910 and 1916, the Southern Hemisphere lost over 60,000 humpbacks to extinction, with the 1930s and 1950s seeing the highest catches. Catch levels in the North Pacific peaked in 1962–1963, with over 3,000 individuals caught.

Characteristic	Description
Scientific Name	Megaptera novaeangliae
Size	Up to 60 feet (18 meters) long
Weight	Up to 40 tons
Diet	Krill, small fish
Lifespan	50 years or more
Habitat	Oceans worldwide
Distinct Feature	Long pectoral fins, knobbly head

The humpback whale is a remarkable animal that is well-known for its mesmerizing songs and amazing acrobatics. These gentle giants, which can be found in oceans all over the world, are essential to the wellbeing of marine ecosystems.

Though enormous in stature, humpback whales exhibit remarkable grace as they breach and slap the water with their strong flippers and tails. They travel thousands of miles in migration, and during that time they are renowned for forging solid social bonds.

Regrettably, human activity has posed serious risks to humpback whales, such as whaling, ship strikes, and entanglement in fishing gear. But in many places, their population is slowly increasing as a result of conservation efforts, which serves as a reminder to us of the significance of safeguarding our oceans and the animals that live there.

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