Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
The songwriter of the sea — and a genuine conservation comeback story.
Humpbacks are acrobats with wings for arms. Males sing songs that last twenty minutes and get remixed by the whole population every year, and the species clawed its way back from about 5,000 animals to well over 135,000.
On the conservation status
Recovered enough to be downlisted in 2008 — proof that protection works. A few local populations, like the Arabian Sea humpbacks, are still endangered.
- Length
- 14–17 m (46–56 ft)
- Weight
- Up to 36,000 kg (40 tons)
- Lifespan
- 80–90 years
- Diet
- Krill and small schooling fish
- Pectoral fins
- Up to 5 m — a third of the body
- Song length
- 10–20 minutes, repeated for hours
The good stuff.
Megaptera means big wing
Their pectoral fins are the longest of any whale — up to a third of their whole body. Those wings let them turn on a coin, which is how a 36-tonne animal manages to be agile.
Whole populations share one song
Every male in an ocean basin sings the same song. It changes a little each year, and sometimes a new song sweeps from Australia across the Pacific like a hit record — scientists literally call it a song revolution.
They fish with bubbles
A group dives below a school of herring and blows a spiral of bubbles while swimming upward. The bubbles act like a net the fish won't swim through, and the whales burst up through the middle with mouths open.
Their tail is an ID card
The black and white pattern under each fluke is unique. Researchers — and anyone with a camera on a whale-watching boat — can match a photo to a named individual in a global catalogue.
They fast for months
Humpbacks gorge in cold polar water, then swim to warm tropical breeding grounds where there's almost nothing to eat. Mothers can go half a year living entirely off their blubber while nursing a calf.
They sometimes rescue other animals
Humpbacks have repeatedly been recorded charging in to break up orca hunts — defending seals, sea lions and even a sunfish. Scientists still argue about why they bother.
Wait, really?
- ✦
The bumps on a humpback's head are called tubercles, and each one grows a single hair used to sense the water.
- ✦
A breaching humpback throws its whole body clear of the water. Nobody is completely sure whether it's communication, parasite removal, or just fun.
- ✦
Their song only travels in the low frequencies — but it can carry across an entire ocean basin.
What it sounds like
Moans, groans, whoops and cries stacked into repeating phrases and themes, exactly like verses and a chorus.
Where you might see one
Maui in winter, Alaska's Inside Passage in summer, Hervey Bay in Australia, and the Silver Bank off the Dominican Republic.
The trouble
- Entanglement in fishing gear and crab pot lines
- Ship strikes
- Ocean noise
- Disturbance from boats getting too close
One real thing
If you go whale watching, choose an operator that keeps a legal distance. Crowding a mother and calf costs them energy they can't spare.
More ways to help