Page 66 - World of Animals - Issue #41

All about the humpback whale

Whale life

There’s a lot more to these fascinating mammals
than being knobbly-looking krill-sievers
Found across the world’s oceans, the is why they are a whale-watchers’
humpback whale’s taxonomic name, Megaptera dream (although harassment
novaeangliae, means ‘big-winged New from watching boats is becoming
Englander’. This is a reference to the whale’s a concern, so choose your tour
giant fins, as well as the fact that the New operator wisely). Surfacing behaviour
England whale population was the most well can include fin and tail slapping, spy
known at the time. The whale’s giant ‘wings’ help hopping and even full-on breaching,
it manoeuvre through the water, and are used for where the whales launch themselves
banking and turning, braking and even swimming out of the water and land with a
backwards. A humpback’s long, tapering body gigantic splash.
can reach up to 18 metres (59 feet), with a Humpbacks are generally peaceful,
mighty tail fluke and a small hump just in front solitary creatures. But when males
of the dorsal fin, which gives the whale the name and females come together at breeding
it’s commonly know by. grounds things can get a bit heated. Males
These critters are mammals, and breathe air will compete for female attention, and the
through their nostrils or ‘blowhole’. They need largest, burliest males will usually win out. To
to take regular breaths, but can dive incredibly challenge for a female’s affections, the big boys
deeply in order to hunt. Humpbacks are one will engage in a surprisingly agile and brutal fight
of the most active whales above water, which where scrapes and injuries aren’t uncommon.
Calves need milk
from their mothers
Dinner for whales cent of which is fat
to survive, 60 per
These ocean leviathans make long ocean-
spanning migrations to find food
Humpback whales, despite their large size, eat tiny prey.
Minute little crustaceans (related to crabs and lobsters)
called krill are their favourite meal, along with other small
fish such as mackerel and sardines. These huge whales
need to eat a lot to sustain them – the average humpback
needs to eat over 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds) of krill
and other small fish per day during the feeding season.
These whales are a migratory species, and every year
during the summer and autumn (depending on which
hemisphere they live in) the whales will make the journey
from the warm waters of the breeding grounds to the
high-latitude, super-productive polar waters to feed. Here
they will spend time eating, fattening up and preparing for
the migration back to warmer climes.
Humpbacks feed by filtering the krill from the water
with their modified teeth, known as baleen plates. Like
all rorqual whales, they have large, fleshy pleats in the
underside of their jaw, which allows the mouth to expand
to accommodate a large gulp of krill-laden water. The
whale then forces the water out, at the same time trapping
all of the tasty morsels in its mouth.

“Surfacing behaviour can include fin and

tail slapping, spy hopping and breaching”

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