La Humpback Whale It is one of the rarest species in the world and this is because it can be seen in all the seas of the planet, it is larger and one of the heaviest whales that exist.
Characteristics of the humpback whale
Its name is due to the hump on its back, which is more pronounced in the water, since it is not very noticeable when they come out and make the jump, to be seen on the surface.
This name was given by the Greeks, since they made a reference to its large fins and its size. These species were seen for the first time in England on one of its coasts, from there they began to be studied.
Being a whale, like many others from the animal kingdom, Wild animals of the cetacean era, it is one of the whales that has evolved over the years, we can deduce this because it is not in danger of extinction and that is why it is considered one of the oldest species in the animal kingdom.
Traits
Marine animals have very similar characteristics, this is due to their environment, the humpback whale has a characteristic that distinguishes it from all cetaceans and it is its hump as its name says, its other features are:
- Its large size defines it as the largest in the world, with an adult length of 11,5 to 15 meters and a newborn of 4 to 5 meters.
- One of its fins is larger than the other and sometimes it can be seen how that fin measures almost a third of its size, on the bottom they are white.
- It has some bumps on the fins, jaw and head.
- The entire back of the humpback whale has numerous pronounced grooves and is white in color.
- In its upper part its color ranges from dark gray to dark blue.
- They can be identified by the color and shape of their dorsal fin, which can go from black to white, it hides a bit when entering the water and forms a lump that also helps to identify it, this is because all whales have different sizes and shapes in the bulk they have.
- The caudal fin is of different colors in the lower part of it, this also helps to identify it, this fin is black in its upper part.
- It has a beard that can measure up to a meter long.
- The female is larger than the male and can only be distinguished by her song or if she is in the company of a young.
- Science has achieved completely white whales and this is due to some condition in which they are born with albinism.
How much does a whale weigh?
In general, an adult humpback whale has an estimated weight of between twenty-five and thirty tons and a newborn but approximately between one and two tons.
Behavior
The social behavior of the humpback whale is quite solitary, since they only spend a few hours with their group and this only occurs in summer, when they migrate and when they are looking for food.
The little ones spend a few months with their mothers and then they distance themselves, this is rare in marine animals since this behavior is one of the Shark Characteristics, but studies have shown that this is the social life of these whales.
As there are so many whales worldwide, they can be seen as dolphins or some other marine animal that is attractive, although they do not have interaction with humans and this is because they belong to deep waters, where the human normally has no presence.
The figure that the humpback whale performs in the form of a jump on the surface, is due to when they are in mating season, they do this in the form of courtship, as well as their song, this is only a study, since at the moment to do it they did not count on the presence of another whale, so perhaps it is only their form of communication.
humpback whale mating
It is strange to be able to see this phenomenon, since it is normally a ritual that is repeated every year, because its gestation period lasts 12 months, in which a female whale and 6 male humpback whales intervene, which compete with each other and fight with their fins. flows, to be able to be with this whale of the female sex.
The phenomenon happens when one of the males wins, but two of them help the winner to turn the whale over, since the female whale does not turn around on its own for mating, it manages to perch on its womb and mating occurs.
Normally this lasts many hours and it is likely that all the males manage to mate with only one whale, that is, of these six males they fight over who is going to be the first, but they all manage to mate with the same whale.
Scientists still do not know in which ocean the whales mate, what is known is that they need an abundance of food at this time, it is unknown whether they should be warm or cold waters, the female whales reach their sexual maturity at five or six years of age and this makes the males annually migrate to look for new females to court.
Song
As we had already mentioned, the jumps that the humpback whale makes, are sometimes to court a female whale, the songs are produced at the same time that they are courting these whales or when they want to communicate with another, yes feel threatened or attacked.
In general, these songs are lasting, up to many days and vary between low notes and their frequency, these songs are used by males in the form of seduction and in the female the song is emitted when she is in period of heat.
The males only sing for a period of 10 to 20 minutes and repeat it every hour, this song has not been studied in its entirety and that is why it is thought that they only sing at the time of mating, this means that the songs are performed only in summer and can be heard by tourists when they go to observe them.
humpback whale feeding
Humpback whales have a balanced diet, unlike other whales, although they feed on krill, but they can also feed on some small fish or those that are in schools of low quantities.
We can mention some fish with which they feed, among them are:
- The tuna
- The salmon
- the chaplain
- Chickadees
- Haddock
- Mackerel
These fish are 150 meters deep and this makes the whales rise to the surface to eat, so that their prey does not move away when they feed, they emit a sound hitting the water with their tail or fins, this creates a network of bubbles which makes the shoal concentrate and thus when they attack they can eat the entire shoal.
Unlike krill, the school is quite large and they pass through it repeatedly to feed.
humpback whale habitat
Humpback whales can be seen in all the world's oceans, but only in those whose temperature varies between cold waters of low temperatures and their summers are spent in these waters, where tropical and subtropical climates reproduce.
The distances they travel at the time of their migration can be about twenty-five thousand kilometers a year, placing them in the first place of travel as marine animals and mammals.
Although there is an exception in the humpback whale that lives in the Persian Gulf, these whales do not migrate, they always remain in these warm waters, so it can be concluded that for the reproduction of this whale it is necessary to be in warm waters, such as tropical climates for For this reason, they travel from the Arctic and Mediterranean seas to warmer seas.
It can be said that in the Baltic Sea and in the Antarctic there are no such whales, since their waters are very cold, there is a greater concentration of this species of whale between latitudes 60° South to 65° North.
Cloud ERP Implementation
Its migration will depend on where it is, at the time of the change of seasons.
Caribbean Sea
- Winter, which can be said that for the Caribbean are between the months of November, December and January, where it is winter but its waters are warm, in these months the whales mate and have their young.
- Spring / Summer / Autumn, when these seasons of the year arrive, they look for colder waters to feed and this causes them to make long migrations, as we had already mentioned, as the seasons vary on both sides of the Equator Line, the same They make these migrations and gather to eat and travel together to areas where there is more food and the waters are warmer.
For example, when whales encounter the seasons of spring, summer and autumn in the Caribbean, they travel to Australia and spend these seasons in Antarctica, in this way they get warm water and the first to arrive are the young, the slightly more mature males and then the whales that are going to give birth.
These make it so that the whales that have not yet mated can mate again there, at the end of this season the whales each take their path, since they are very solitary, they are not in herds, this is the only period in which they travel together, as they seek good food and warm waters.
North Atlantic
- In summer they make a migration to the Atlantic Ocean, but up to its western shores, this is mostly based on the gulfs of Iceland, there they spend the summer feeding and can mix with other populations of whales that also spend their summer there, the Humpback whales tend to spend a lot of time in the Atlantic since their summers are longer and the coasts are warmer.
- The whales that live in the North Atlantic, when the winter season arrives, they make a migration to the coasts of India and Africa that are in the East of the Atlantic to find warmer waters and not so cold.
Humpback whale in the North Pacific
- In the summer, the whales that inhabit the North Pacific feed there on the coasts of Russia and Alaska, in this way they mix between the populations of whales that live there and normally you can observe migration of whales from another part of the world. to this area during the summer.
- Humpback whales when winter arrives in the North Pacific, travel to the islands of Japan or the Hawaiian island along the western coast of Mexico, to reproduce and last several months in this part of the ocean.
Arabian Sea
The whales that inhabit this area of the ocean do not migrate during any season of the year. This is due to the fact that the waters have the right conditions for the whales to inhabit as they are, feeding, breeding and reproducing them, in this area a greater concentration of this cetacean species can be observed.
As for their diet, in this area you can get a wide variety of foods that we mentioned before, the shoals come to these areas for their warmth.
Southern hemisphere
- In the summer you can see the whales concentrate in the seas of Ecuador and there they spend a few months, traveling around Antarctica.
- In the winter the humpback whale travels to the Caribbean and the Pacific, to start the whole cycle of seasons again, these whales only rest for a few months and are the ones that belong to the Antarctic area, after those months we can observe this species of whales in the seas of countries such as Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and North Costa Rica.
Places where you can see the humpback whale
In the Pacific they can be seen on coasts such as:
- South America
- Colombia: In Malaga, Gorgona and Utria.
- Ecuador: Manabi, Santa Elena and sometimes Isla de Plata
- North America
- United States: Washington, New England, Vancouver.
- Canada: Alaska
- Mexico: Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Nayarit and Baja California.
- Australia
- Sydney
In the Atlantic they can be seen on coasts such as:
- Iceland
- Snaefelsnes Peninsula
- Portugal
- Azores islands
- Samana Bay
- Dominican Republic
- Silver Bank
- Brazil
- Forte beach
- Costa Rica
- Whale Marine Park
Tourism
The humpback whale is characterized by being quite curious and this makes it possible for it to approach the ships and navigate around them, for this reason there is so much hunting of these animals, since they alone approach the whaling ships and cause their death.
This species has tourist ideals since the 90s, since they are seen in many parts of the world and captivate the public by their jumps and songs, like any animal, whether or not it is wild, its behavior when having young, is quite protective and they always try to get high between the boats and the small whales so that they do not suffer damage.
However, you can observe these whales in the Parque Marino de Ballenas, which is a tourist site, and they arrive there by themselves, by means of sound waves that they have under the sea, this makes the code of conduct quite interesting for the operators. tourist.
relationship with man
These whales have always been part of children's stories and are even part of stories told by sailors and this is due to the spectacle that these whales form, when they jump out of the water, without a doubt a great attraction .
There are those who confuse them with sea monsters, there are even those who say that their song is like the song of the sirens, which in turn until now are thought to be unreal sea creatures, in recent years there are divers who have had the pleasure of being close to these whales and what they can tell us about their experience is that they feel a certain pressure on the thorax when the humpback whale sings, apparently this is due to the sound waves it emits.
commercial whaling hunchback
The hunting of this species is usually very strong by the whaling industry, in hunting season up to two hundred thousand specimens can be killed and about forty-eight thousand illegally, but it does not cause them to be in danger of extinction, since its recovery in the existing amount of the species is quite fast.
Thanks to the curiosity that these whales have, it is easier to hunt them, because they approach the whaling ships and they hunt them at that moment.
The reason for their hunting is for the oil that the whaling industry can obtain from the fat of the humpback whale, which is rich in vitamins and is used for different beauty products, hair care, among others. The whaling industry hunts throughout the world ocean, this is because they have a special permit for this hunting to be legal.