Humpback whale is a baleen whale that lives in all the oceans. The humpback whale can reach a length of 62 feet (19 meters). It has a tapered head and enormously long, thin flippers. The skin is usually white underneath and dark gray or black on the back and sides. The humpback whale has a fin on the back just behind the middle of the body. This fin often has a ridge or “hump,” giving the whale its name.
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The humpback whale has 270 to 400 thin, fringed plates, called baleen, on each side of the upper jaw. The whale feeds by opening its mouth wide and lunging through schools of small fish or masses of shrimplike animals called krill. It filters the prey by squeezing the water out of its mouth through the baleen.
Humpback whales usually travel in groups. They are highly acrobatic, sometimes jumping clear of the water. Each year humpback whales migrate, often close to shore, from polar waters to tropical waters, where they breed. Humpback whales communicate with a complex variety of moans and screams. At the breeding grounds, males repeat certain sounds for long periods. These “songs” can sound hauntingly beautiful.
Commercial whaling nearly caused humpback whales to go extinct in the 1900’s. Humpback populations have recovered since hunting them was banned in the 1960’s.
