The Wonders of Whales
Whales: Why we Love and Need Them
Gentle giants
Whales, as a species, are the largest animals on Earth. While humpback whales are dwarfed by their gargantuan blue whale cousins, they still beat out the vast majority of marine life, and easily tower over any and all land animals.
A ton of whale
Humpback whales can grow up to 60 feet (18 meters) long, and commonly weigh upwards of 40 tons. That makes them as heavy as eight African elephants!
Temples full of tubercles
The face of humpback whales are covered in bumps known as tubercles. Out of each tubercle grows at least one long hair, which scientists suspect are used for navigation.
Every tail tells its own tale
Every humpback whale has its own unique set of markings on their tail fins, or flukes. The patterns on any given whale's fluke acts like a fingerprint, making it easy for researchers to tell individual whales apart.
World travelers
Most humpback whales travel all across the world over the course of a year. They can be found in any of Earth's oceans, depending on the time of year; humpbacks are always looking for warmer waters.
The longest migration on Earth
In fact, humpback whales have longer migration routes than any other animal on Earth. The longest recorded humpback migration stretched an incredible 11,706 miles (18,840 km) from the Samoa Islands to Antarctica.
Arabian whales
The only humpbacks that don't migrate are those living in the Arabian Sea. Researchers believe that these Arabian humpbacks have fed, mated, and lived in the Arabian Sea exclusively for over 70,000 years.
Peas in a pod
Many humpback whales prefer to travel solo, but many others like to travel in small groups, known as pods. Most pods only consist of three, four, or sometimes five whales. Mother whales with young calves usually tend to travel in pods for protection.
Breaching away the barnacles
Besides their occasional visits to the surface for air, humpbacks also make a habit of propelling their tremendous bodies out of the water and back in, making a massive splash. Experts think that whales do this in order to shake barnacles and parasites off of their bodies, or maybe just for the fun of it!
The crooners of the sea
Humpbacks are also famous for their deep, ethereal whale songs. Singing is unique to male humpbacks, and is most likely used as a mating call. These whale songs, which can sound incredibly spooky to human ears, can last for hours on end.
Master songwriters
Humpbacks can create complex songs that are unique to their region. Even from far away, humpbacks will hear and repeat the same song over and over again, gradually changing the tune as they move to new areas.
A voice that carries
Whale calls and songs can be heard from great distances, sometimes from as far as 20 miles (30 km) away. A humpback's voice is impressively deep, often dipping thousands of hertz below what is detectable by the human ear.
Whale whispers
Softer whale calls, affectionately called whale whispers, are often used between humpback calves and their mothers. These quieter calls are thought to be used so that mother and calf can communicate without alerting possible nearby predators.
Baleen plates
One might expect the massive mouth of a humpback whale to be lined with innumerable teeth, but when looking into the mouth of a whale, there isn't a single tooth in sight. Instead, humpbacks have rows of baleen plates, numbering anywhere from 270 to 400. They are used to filter the huge gulps of water humpbacks take when feeding.
Seafood aficionados
©ShutterstockIt should come as no surprise that humpback whales need to eat a huge amount of food each day to fuel their long ocean journeys. Humpbacks dine on a daily dose of krill, plankton, and small fish, measuring up to around 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg).
Bubble netting
When hunting in pods, humpbacks like to use a technique known as bubble netting to round up their prey. The whales shoot out powerful bursts of air bubbles that can be used to disorient and herd their dinner into small, concentrated areas, so that they can get the most bang for their bite.
A good, long life
Humpback whales, if left undisturbed, can live to be older than many humans. The average lifespan of healthy humpbacks ranges anywhere from 80 to 90 years.
Whales in danger?
Humpback whales were historically hunted by numerous cultures around the world. Their affinity for warm water near coastlines made them easy prey, and the mind-boggling amount of meat and blubber they yielded made them essential to many settlements living in cold climates by the sea.
The comeback kids
In modern times, however, the practice of whaling has become taboo for most cultures around the world. Humpbacks were considered endangered species as recently as 1988, but today they are considered an animal of least concern.
Whaling today
That's not to say, however, that whaling has halted completely. Groups of people indigenous to Greenland, for example, are allowed to hunt and kill a limited number of humpback whales each year, because of the deep and essential place whaling has in their culture. Other Northern European nations also still engage in whaling.
Underwater saviours of humanity?
An increasing number of humpbacks in the ocean is good news for everybody. Research has shown that whales, particularly humpback whales, are one of the world's greatest natural fighters of climate change.
The trouble with CO2
One of the primary contributors to global pollution and climate change is the unchecked dumping of carbon dioxide, or CO2, into Earth's atmosphere. This is primarily caused by the immensely irresponsible use of fossil fuels around the world.
Phytoplankton
Enter phytoplankton. These tiny, microscopic plant organisms are responsible for absorbing around 37 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually and converting most of it into 50% of the total oxygen in our atmosphere at any given time.
The whale pump
These incredibly important phytoplankton just so happen to feed on whale excrement, which is high in iron and nitrogen. This means that the more whales in the sea, the more phytoplankton are there to help soak up the atmosphere's CO2. What's more, the humpback's upward and horizontal movements help to stir up other minerals from the ocean floor that phytoplankton love to feed on. This process is known as the "whale pump."
Carbon collectors
Humpback whales themselves are prolific carbon and CO2 collectors. Throughout a humpback's lifetime, it can absorb more than 33 tons of CO2.
Putting trees to shame
To put that giant number in perspective, the average tree only absorbs around 48 pounds (21.7 kg) of carbon dioxide in a year. Phytoplankton's intake of CO2, around 40% of all the CO2 in the atmosphere, dwarfs that of the Amazon rainforest by 400%.
Bringing the carbon with them
After spending a long life absorbing carbon from the ocean, the old humpback will peacefully sink to the bottom of the sea after dying, taking all those tons of CO2 with them. This carbon is safely stored within the whale's body and naturally reintroduced into the Earth's slow carbon cycle over centuries.
Saving the whales to save us all
This is a major point for many environmental groups and researchers around the world, especially those involved with whale conservation. The correlation between healthy humpback populations and a healthy Earth is undeniable.
How you can help
There are many groups around the world that have dedicated themselves to protecting whales, and they can always use your help. Whether through a monetary donation or simply spreading awareness, there are things we all can do every day to help protect humpback whales and, by extension, help protect ourselves.
References
- ^ Wales on Britannia: Seven Wonders of Wales, britannia.com
- ^ Letter to Mr. Gough, July 20, 1770, in Illustrations of the literary history of the eighteenth century, v.5, Nichols, Son, and Bentley, 1828, p.583
EXPLORE FURTHER
What Are the Seven Wonders of Wales? - Wales Guidebook
walesguidebook.com
WHAT ARE THE SEVEN WONDERS OF WALES?
hwb.gov.wales
