Physiology

Common Name:

Humpback whale

Scientific Name:

Megaptera novaeangliae

Body size:

Adult female 15 m

Adult male 13.5 m

Newborn calf 4.2 m

Weight 30,000 kg to 48,000 kg width of adult fluke: 4.6 m

Length of adult flipper: 4 m

Life expectancy:

Unconfirmed average 40-50 years

Maximum possibly up to 80 years

Behavior (vocal):

Males sing sophisticated songs on the breeding grounds. In areas where group feeding is observed (e.g. Southeast Alaska) it is often accompanied by stereotyped feeding calls.

Physical Characteristics:

Black or dark grey except for various white patches on the underside of the body. Tail flukes markings can be used to identify individuals which allows us to study them. Humpbacks have very long flippers (the longest of all cetaceans), a small dorsal fin located on a hump bumps (tubercles) on their head.

Behavior:

Very energetic and show spectacular breaching behavior.

Habitat/distribution:

Humpback whales spend spring, summer and autumn on feeding grounds in temperate or high latitude waters. In the winter months, they travel to lower latitudes where the water is warmer and where they mate and give birth.

Distribution:

One of the longest annual migrations of any mammal worldwide distribution with two stocks in the North Atlantic Ocean and two stocks in the North Pacific Ocean. The western North Atlantic holds the healthiest population of humpbacks.

Diet:

Tiny shrimp-like crustaceans called euphausiids (you-FOH-sids) known as krill schooling fish such as herring and sand lance.

Foraging Behavior:

Filter feeders-move water through their baleen plates to capture prey may lunge feed or entrap prey using “bubble nets”.