How Do Humpback Whales Work?

of a city bus but the weight of two. The hump that forms under their small dorsal fin when they breach, that is, when they throw apart or all of their bodies out of the water, gives them their recognizable name. They have a uniquely huge tail and pectoral fins. Their backside is black, and their underbelly is a varying mix of both black and white. What appear from a distance to be decorative lines on their underside are actually ventral plates.

These plates fold open and allow the whale's throat cavity to expand, so they can scoop up copious amounts of water and thus their prey. When they feed Humpback whales are one of fourteen species of bailen whales, type of whale that has balan plates instead of teeth. Balan plates are long, thick, bristly fibers made of keratin attached to their upper jaw. These are useful because, despite the whale's massive size, humpbacks like to show down on much smaller

sea creatures like plankton, krill, anchovies, and cod. They gulp in enough water to fill a swimming pool, and then when they expel it, the baileean plates filter in those tiny tasty creatures. Also, if you've ever heard of whale bone used in vintage corsetry, these are the whale bones in question if you're imagining a diver getting scooped up in all that water. Never year, though these whales are a lot bigger than us, they're not built to swallow

us sized animals. While there esophagus thus stretch a little when they swallow a meal, their throat and those of most whale species, isn't any wider than a human fist, and if you ended up in their mouth by mistake, you would promptly be spit out, which has happened before. And the divers have lived to tell the tale. Humpback whales can be found in all oceans around the globe, in part due to having one of the longest migration

patterns of all mammals. Humpback populations spend part of the year feeding and fattening up in colder waters, and then head to tropical or subtropical oceans to focus on mating. Females generally produce a single calf every two to three years on average, which might not seem like much, but those calves will live for approximately eighty to ninety years. Humpback whales tend to live close to shore, and since they often slap the water and reach the surface, they're

a frequent and awe inspiring site for whale watchers. For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Work. Spoke by email with Ed Lyman, a natural resource management specialist at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. He explained that scientists believe these acrobatics likely serve more than one purpose. A quote. First, it may be a

grooming or cleaning mechanism. You throw all or most of forty tons in the case of a typical adult humpback whale of your body out of the water and come crashing back down. You're very likely to remove loose skin parasites, and in general, any biofouling. Doing so reduces drag and helps maintain the animals hydrodynamic form. It reduces your energy budget.

Other possibilities include the movement and or the sound of the splash as a means of communication, as displays of aggression or competitiveness, or as a come hither during breeding displays, but Lyman said it may just be fun. When we seek halves breaching and sanctuary waters, we tend to lean toward this interpretation, though this applies to adults as well. Humpbacks are master communicators. The males compose grunts and wines and the complex songs that travel great distances under water.

Researchers are still debating the exact purpose of the music, though it's generally thought to be part of mating displays, as more tends to happen during breeding season. How Stuff Works also spoke by email with Mark Lammer's PhD, a research ecologist who is also with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. He says the biggest question is who exactly the males are serenading. While it's possible that females choose their mates based on these songs, there's little

evidence of that so far. Quote there's more behavioral evidence to suggest that other males pay close attention to the singing of their competitors. As a result, several researchers myself included, believe that song may help to mediate male male interactions by potentially communicating the competitive fitness of a singer to potential competitors. Males within each population sing the same song with room for improvisation, but just as we humans have

different voice characteristics, so do whales. Lambers said. It's that individual variability that may carry important information about a male's fitness and therefore its ability to compete for a female that other males and possibly females may be listening for. Due to centuries of intense commercial whaling, the entire humpback population was listed as endangered in nineteen seventy, but things started looking up in when the International Whaling Commission's final

whaling moratorium on commercial harvest took effect. Today, they still sometimes get caught in fishing gear or collide with boats, but their population is thankfully increasing. Only four out of fourteen distinct populations are still listed as endangered. With continued conservation, these gentle giants will continue to sing, splash about, and amaze us all. Today's episode is based on the article Pumpback whales have made an amazing comeback from extinction on

how stuff works dot Com, written by Katie Carmen. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.