Sighting a Humpback whale in the wild is special, as these gentile giants are sought after in some areas of the world for their meat and fat as a delicacy. If you're looking for places to see Humpback whales, keep reading.
Humpback whales grow to be about 52 feet long, weighing 30-50 tons. Humpbacks come in 4 different colour schemes, ranging from white to gray to black to mottled.
Humpback whales are known for their magical songs, which travel for great distances through the world’s oceans. These sequences of moans, howls, cries, and other noises are quite complex and often continue for hours on end.
These baleen whales are found near coastlines, feeding on tiny shrimp-like krill, plankton, and small fish. Humpbacks migrate annually from summer feeding grounds near the poles to warmer winter breeding waters closer to the Equator.
Mothers and their young swim close together, touching flippers with what appear to be gestures of affection. It takes far longer than a year for humpback whales to reach full adulthood—yet the calves are nursed by females for almost that long.
Humpbacks are powerful swimmers, and they use their massive tail fin, called a fluke, to propel themselves through the water and sometimes completely out of it.
Humpback whales migrate from their summer feeding grounds to wintering areas where they mate and give birth. After the mating season, they travel back up north in order to feed again before the cycle begins anew.
Humpback whales are baleen whales, which means they use comb-like plates in the mouth to filter small fish from seawater. They feed on krill, anchovies and other schooling species of fish—including capelin, sardines and mackerels.