Humpback Whales
The humpback whale is a baleen whale and a rorqual whale that sings amazing songs. It performs complex and cooperative feeding techniques. The humpback has a bulky head with bumpy protuberances (tubercles), each with a bristle. Humpbacks are acrobats of the ocean, breaching and slapping the water. They live in pods and have 2 blowholes. The name humpback describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive.
grow to be about 52 feet (16 m) long, weighing 30-50 tons. The females are slightly larger than males, as with all baleen whales.
SKIN, SHAPE AND FINS
Humpbacks come in 4 different color schemes, ranging from white to gray to black to ...
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mottled white flippers with rough edges that are up to one-third of its body length; these are the largest flippers of any whale. The humpback's genus, Megaptera, means "huge-wings," referring to its flippers. The flippers may have barnacles growing on them.
The deeply-notched flukes are up to 12 feet (3.7 m) wide. Humpbacks have a small dorsal fin toward the flukes.
DIET AND BALEEN
Humpback whales (like all baleen whales) are seasonal feeders and carnivores that filter feed tiny crustaceans (krill-mainly Euphausia superba, copepods, etc.), plankton, and small fish (including herring, mackerel, capelin, and sandeel) from the water. They are gulpers (not skimmers), filter feeders that alternatively swim then gulp a mouthful of plankton or fish. Concentrated massses of prey are preferrable for this method of feeding. An average-sized humpback whale will eat 4,400-5,500 pounds (2000-2500 kg) of plankton, krill and small, schooling fish each day during the feeding season in ...
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come back down. Sometimes they twirl around while breaching. Breaching may be purely for play or may be used to loosen skin parasites or have some social meaning.
Spyhopping is another humpback activity in which the whale pokes its head out of the water for up to 30 seconds to take a look around.
Humpbacks also stick their tail out of the water into the air, swing it around, and then slap it on the water's surface; this is called lobtailing. It makes a very loud sound. The meaning or purpose of lobtailing is unknown, but may be done as a warning to the rest of the pod. Humpbacks lobtail more when the seas are rough and stormy. Slapping a fin against the surface of the water ...
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Humpback Whales. (2007, February 1). Retrieved April 27, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Humpback-Whales/59604
"Humpback Whales." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 1 Feb. 2007. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Humpback-Whales/59604>
"Humpback Whales." Essayworld.com. February 1, 2007. Accessed April 27, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Humpback-Whales/59604.
"Humpback Whales." Essayworld.com. February 1, 2007. Accessed April 27, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Humpback-Whales/59604.
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