HUMPBACK WHALE

Size

• Length 36-49 ft. (11-15 m)
• Weight 25-44 tons (25,000-45,000 kg).

Habitat

• In winter and summer found in coastal areas or near islands; migrates through open oceans

Diet

• Feeds on schooling fish or krill.

Reproductive

• In fall moves south to tropical waters to mate or give birth.
• Single young are born every 2 years.

Behavior

• Blows 2-8 times before raising flukes high into the air and diving for up to 20 minutes.
• Acrobatic; can leap clear of the water when breaching, also frequently slaps water with long flippers or tail.

Behavior

• Groups may cooperate to produce a curtain or cloud or bubbles to trap and concentrate prey.
• Also lunge feeds.

Nesting

• Most commonly seen alone or in small groups but may congregate in feeding and wintering grounds.
• W. Alaska and Aluetian Is. to Baja California in pacific, Baffin I. to N.Y. in Atlantic.
• Occurs worldwide

Call or Noise

• Long complex songs (audible to humans) given by males during the winter breeding season.
• Grunts and and whoops or song fragments may be given in summer.

Physical Characteristics

• Head broad and rounded, snout and lips marked with fleshy knobs.
• Baleen black with coarse fringes.
• Flippers very long, bumpy on leading edge, white above and below(in North Atlantic) or black above , white below (in North Pacific).

Physical Characteristics

• Dorsal fin humped or stepped,followed by a series of bumps on the tail stock.
• Tail flukes broad, deeply notched, white below.
• Blow: Short (10 ft./3 m), broad, and bushy.