60 Fun Facts About Humpback Whale

What is the humpback whale's scientific name?

It is the only species in the genus Megaptera, a rorqual related to the blue, fin, sei, Bryde's and minke whales.

The genus name Megaptera means what?

It refers to the enormous pectoral flippers, each about a third of the body length.

The species name novaeangliae means what?

Brisson coined it in 1756 as 'baleine de la Nouvelle Angleterre' after regular sightings off New England.

Where does the common name 'humpback' come from?

The dorsal fin itself is short and varies from almost nothing to a small curved hook.

How long is a typical adult humpback whale?

Females run 1-1.5 m longer than males; the species can weigh up to 40 tonnes.

A humpback's pectoral flippers are roughly what fraction of its body length?

They give it propulsion in any direction and let it flap and rotate them like a sea lion.

What are the fist-sized bumps on a humpback's head and flipper edges called?

Unique among large whales, each is mostly hollow and holds a single fragile hair; they are rich in nerves and probably sensory.

What do the bumps on the humpback's flippers do hydrodynamically?

The 'tubercle effect' lets the whale make the tight turns needed for bubble-net feeding.

How many baleen plates line a humpback's upper jaw?

They are black; the throat has 14-35 grooves, few for a rorqual.

How do researchers tell individual humpbacks apart?

Whales raise their flukes when diving, conveniently showing the underside.

Which neurons linked to theory of mind in humans have been found in humpback brains?

One measured humpback brain weighed about 4.6 kg.

Which humpback behaviour involves slapping the tail fluke on the surface?

A peduncle throw is the tail crashing sideways; all may be play, communication or parasite removal.

What is a humpback's typical cruising speed?

It is slower than other rorquals but can hit 27 km/h when threatened.

What is the deepest recorded humpback dive?

They usually stay above 80 m; winter dives last 15-20 minutes, summer ones under five.

What technique do humpbacks use to herd prey, considered a form of tool use?

A group circles while blowing air, trapping fish or krill in a cylinder of bubbles, then lunges up through it.

What are the two main forms of bubble-netting?

A double loop herds prey with a long deep loop, then a surface slap, then a small final loop before capture.

What do humpbacks mainly eat?

Herring, capelin, sand lances and mackerel feature; they feed from spring to autumn and fast on the breeding grounds.

At Stellwagen Bank, humpbacks flush out which fish by brushing their jaws along the seafloor?

One study argued they learned lobtail feeding from each other over 27 years as prey changed.

A 2009 study found a super-aggregation of humpbacks and krill in which Antarctic bay, at 5.1 whales per km²?

Southern hemisphere humpbacks have been seen foraging in compact groups of up to 200.

What is the male closest to a female, who fights off rivals, called?

Rivals are 'challengers'; 'secondary escorts' trail behind. Fights involve tail slashing, ramming and head-butting.

How long is a humpback whale's gestation?

Females calve every two years, in shallow water in mid-winter; a birth off Madagascar took four minutes.

What do humpback fetuses have that adults lack?

They lose them and grow baleen in the final months of gestation.

How long was a newborn humpback calf?

It weighs about 680 kg and is born with a furled dorsal fin that stiffens as it grows.

What was the age of the oldest recorded living humpback whale?

They routinely live past 50 and reach sexual maturity at 5-15 years.

How long does a male humpback's song typically last?

In Hawaii, whales have been recorded singing for seven hours straight.

Which sex of humpback sings the complex breeding-season songs?

The function is debated; females seem drawn to gatherings of singers, like a lek.

Humpback whale songs appear to follow which statistical law also seen in human language?

Songs travel at least 10 km and change over time as other males copy the alterations.

How do humpback songs below the equator differ from northern ones in how they change?

Northern songs evolve gradually; songs can also spread between neighbouring populations across seasons.

A 2023 study found that as humpback numbers recovered from whaling, what happened to singing?

With more whales around, males may rely less on song to find mates.

What is the main natural predator of humpback whales?

They target juveniles; a 2014 Western Australia study saw young humpbacks killed when orcas gathered in numbers.

Humpbacks have been seen mobbing orcas to protect which other animals?

Their barnacle-studded flippers are formidable weapons.

Which species was documented killing a weakened 7 m humpback in 2020?

Tiger sharks took an ailing humpback near Hawaii in 2006, and dusky sharks apparently killed a calf in 2014.

What are the barnacles that live on humpback skin considered, since they do not feed on the whale?

Coronula diadema and C. reginae are the common ones; goose barnacles then attach to them.

How far have humpbacks been recorded travelling in one direction on migration?

They breed near the equator and feed toward the poles, often crossing open ocean.

What is the northernmost latitude at which humpbacks have been recorded?

That was around Franz Josef Land.

Where does an isolated, non-migratory humpback population live?

It has been isolated for 70,000 years, numbers only about 80 animals and is considered endangered.

Where do the North Pacific's Hawaiian humpbacks mostly go to feed?

The Mexican population forages from the Aleutians to California, and Central American whales stay off Oregon and California.

Where do West Indies humpbacks spend their summers?

The other North Atlantic population winters off Cape Verde and summers around Iceland and Norway.

To roughly what number did the global humpback population fall by the 1960s?

North Atlantic numbers dropped as low as 700.

In which year did the IWC ban commercial humpback whaling?

The IWC itself was founded in 1946.

The Soviet Union reported catching 2,820 humpbacks between 1947 and 1972. What was the true figure?

Over 200,000 were taken in the Southern Hemisphere in the 20th century overall.

What was the worldwide humpback population in the IUCN's 2018 assessment?

About 84,000 were mature, the trend was rising, and the IUCN rated the species Least Concern.

Hunting of a few humpbacks each year is still permitted off which Caribbean island?

It belongs to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Greenland's native population also got a small quota in 2010.

Japan's plan to kill 50 humpbacks in the 2007-08 season under which programme sparked global protests?

The fleet agreed to take no humpbacks for two years after an IWC visit to Tokyo.

How much revenue does humpback whale-watching bring to Hawaii each year?

Tours started in New England and Hawaii in 1975.

Migaloo, the famous all-white humpback, was first sighted in 1991 near Byron Bay in which country?

His name means 'whitefella' in some Aboriginal languages; he was first seen near Byron Bay.

Who produced the 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale, the best-selling environmental album ever?

It sold over 100,000 copies and helped spawn the Save the Whales movement.

In which 1986 film does an alien probe endanger Earth trying to contact extinct humpback whales?

Few of the film's humpbacks were real; ILM built full-size animatronics.

The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary was established in which year?

Costa Rica's Ballena Marine National Park was also set up for humpback protection.

Which rorqual is the humpback's sister taxon according to genomic analysis?

Rorquals split from other baleen whales 10.5-7.5 million years ago.

Modern humpback populations originated in which hemisphere, around 880,000 years ago?

They colonised the northern hemisphere between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago.

Which shellfish toxin from contaminated mackerel has been implicated in humpback deaths?

It causes paralytic shellfish poisoning.

Up to roughly how much can an adult humpback whale weigh?

Adults run 14 to 17 metres long, and the species is the only member of its genus, Megaptera.

How does the IUCN Red List classify the humpback whale as of 2018?

Around 84,000 of the estimated 135,000 whales are mature, and the trend is upward, though some regional populations remain at risk.

The humpback is a rorqual, meaning it belongs to which whale family?

Like its relatives it has expandable throat grooves, though comparatively few of them, between 14 and 35.

At what age can a humpback calf start eating adult food, even though it may suckle for a year?

Older calves spend more time away from their mothers, resting and circling at the surface.

At what age do humpback whales become sexually mature, depending on the population?

Physical maturity is thought to follow at 8 to 12 years, and the animals can live for more than 50 years.

How many throat grooves does a humpback have, a relatively low number for a rorqual?

The grooves run from the tip of the lower jaw to the navel and expand the mouth during lunge feeding.

In one study, roughly how much did a humpback whale's brain weigh?

It measured 22.4 cm long and its complexity resembles that of smaller whales and dolphins.

Who first identified the humpback, as 'baleine de la Nouvelle Angleterre', in his 1756 Regnum Animale?

Borowski Latinised the name in 1781, Lacépède renamed it in 1804, and Gray created the genus Megaptera in 1846.