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A Web site dedicated to Cetaceans, the whales and dolphins of this blue planet,
and the people who fight to save them.
and the people who fight to save them.
Humpback Whale Facts
| Megaptera novaeangliae | |
| Size: | Male Humpbacks average 40 to 48 feet, with females ranging from 45 to 50 feet in length. They weigh anywhere from 25 to 40 tons. Their heads take up about one third of their body length and their most recognizable trait, their long flippers run from one quarter to one third the length of their bodies. They reach sexual maturity at age 6 to 8 years, with females giving birth every two to three years to calves weighing up to one ton and 10 to 15 feet long. Calves feed on mother's milk for a year before being weaned. |
| Feeding: | Humpbacks are baleen whales, with 270-400 baleen plates with which to filter huge amounts of water for food. They eat krill and small fish such as herring, up to one and one half tons per day. Humpbacks participate in cooperative feeding in a method called "bubble netting" in which up to 22 whales surround a school of krill or fish and circling around them, create a net of bubbles which forces the small fish to gather in the center. Then a few whales lunge up the middle of the net with their mouths open wide, shoveling the gathered fish in and breaking the surface with their catch. |
| Identifiication: | Humpback whales are dark colored on top, but underneath their huge tail flukes a pattern of white and black markings can be seen., This distinctive pattern is the whales' "fingerprints" in that no two whales' markings are the same. Because they lift their flukes before diving, photographs of these patterns are used for identification purposes. |
| Culture: | Humpback whales are more solitary than many types, joining into groups mainly for feeding and breeding purposes. They travel individually or with one to three other individuals. Humpbacks are strongly migratory, Pacific Ocean whales travel from their summer feeding grounds in Alaska to the Hawaiian Islands, some 4200 kilometers away, swimming up to 150 km per day.
Humpbacks are found in every ocean on Earth, with geographical secregation of at least ten populations. The Southern and Northern hemisphere whales are distinctly different and do not intermingle. |
| Whalesong: | Although both males and female humpbacks are capable of song, the male is the main singer of the family. During mating season, males will sing complex, organized songs with distinct themes and melodies for up to 20 minutes and can be heard over 20 miles away. Each year the song pattern changes gradually with new songs every few years. |
| Behavior: | Humpback whales can be recongized by their typical breathing behavior pattern. Their blow is a single, straight column that rises like a fountain up to ten feet high. They will breathe every 20 to 30 seconds for two to three minutes then dive in their peculiar "humpback" fashion, staying under the water for periods of 3 to 28 minutes. |