Humpback whale breaches enroute to warmer waters… - 05:04 am

15 Jun 2009

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Increasingly we are seeing groups of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, making their yearly migration from the cold feeding grounds of Antarctica to the warm spawning grounds of the tropics. One of the larger baleen whales, the humpback whale was almost hunted into extinction until a ban in hunting in 1963 gave these leviathans the opportunity to make a gradual but sustained come back. An intriguing and spectacular behavioural characteristic of these whales is breaching, in which the animal appears to make a real effort to jump clear out of the water. Why they do this is unclear, but experts suggest that as it is often done in groups, it may play a role in communicating with other individuals. Another theory is that it is useful for dislodging parasites.

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Comments

1 posted at 02:21pm on 15 June, 2009 by Mick

Roger

Bobian - never known you to get properly lost so it must have been the boat skippers fault.!!!

Don’t like reading about my mates in the newspaper, (Cape Times - page 3) when it involves near misses.
Looks like the mozambique sled trip may have helped your endurance swimming!!

Keep it tidy - enjoy the rest of the assignment. Take Care!

Mick

2 posted at 07:07pm on 12 July, 2009 by rafael ulloa

its ok

3 posted at 07:21pm on 08 September, 2009 by Josh

Wow that’s awesome!

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