Humpback Whales Hawaii
Humpback whales, being mammals just like humans, exhibit a number of traits common to all mammals including the following: they are warm blooded, breathe air, and bear live young and nurse them with milk. Adults typically range in size from 35 to 55 feet, and weigh approximately 80,000 pounds. Their scientific name is Megaptera novaeangliae (giant wings of New England) which refers to their large pectoral fins that can reach a length of 15 feet. These fins are used for maneuverability, stabilization, enabling the whale to stop, and swim backwards.
They can easily be identified by their stocky bodies with obvious humps and black dorsal colouring. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs, which are actually hair follicles and are characteristic of the species. The tail flukes, which are lifted high in some dive sequences, have wavy trailing edges. The long black and white tail fin and the pectoral fins have unique patterns, which make individual whales identifiable.
Humpback whales don’t have teeth, but instead have baleen. The baleen is a wide plate in the whale’s mouth, made up of hundreds of long, fringed blades forming a sieve that the whale uses to filter krill, plankton, and small fish out of seawater. These blades measure 18 to 36 inches. Most baleen whales feed by taking a large mouthful of food and water, trapping the food behind the baleen, and then swishing the water out through their baleen plates.
Humpback whales are found in all of the world’s oceans, although they generally prefer habitats near shore or island for both feeding and breeding. The humpbacks of the North Pacific live in the waters off Alaska in the summer, and migrate each year to the main Hawaiian islands and stay during the winter months of November through May. The round-trip distance they travel during this annual migration is approximately 7,000 miles, one of the longest migration distances of any animal species. During their stay in Hawaii, they do not feed, but devote most of their time to mating and bearing their calves.
