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Humpback Whale

Megaptera novaeangliae

Summary 3

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a baleen whale. The humpback whale is found in every ocean. It spends the summer months feeding on small fish and plankton in high latitudes and then migrates towards the equator to breed and calve during the winter months.

Length 40-50 ft (12-16 m)
Weightaround 60,000 lb (27,000 kg)

The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins, up to 12 feet (4 meters), and a knobbly head. The bumps on the top of the head are called tubercles or stove bolts and it is actually an enlarged hair follicle. A single short stiff hair comes out of each tubercle and while scientists don't know the use of these hairs, they could help the animal feel water currents.

Humpback whales have unique patterns on the underside of their tail or fluke which scientists can use to tell one individual apart from another. Using these patterns scientists often name individual animals and can track their entire lives.

Humpback feed in many coastal areas which make them a favorite whale for whale watching. This is combined with their curios nature and there often acrobatic displays, often jumping out of the water or breaching and slapping their long flippers on the water.

Population and Conservation Status 4

The global population is between 30,000-60,000 animals

Due to trends of increasing and stable population sizes the IUCN classes the humpback whale as Least Concern, however some populations do not show increasing numbers and are classed as Endangered, especially in Oceania and the Arabian Sea.

Threats 5

Humpback whales became one of the major targets of the whaling industry due to their coastal migration routes; it is estimated that over 100,000 humpbacks were slaughtered in the southern hemisphere alone, between 1900 and 1940.

Protected from whaling today, these whales are vulnerable to changes in the marine environment and are threatened by pollution and the possible alteration of fish stocks as a result of climate change. In some areas, humpback whales are threatened by fatal collisions with large ships and entanglement in fishing gear.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Greg Lasley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Greg Lasley
  2. (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/18024068@N00/4003358115
  3. Adapted by Bodacious Dream - Dave Rearick from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaptera_novaeangliae
  4. (c) Bodacious Dream - Dave Rearick, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
  5. Adapted by Bodacious Dream - Dave Rearick from a work by (c) Wildscreen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/2607758

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