WHALES

HUMPBACK WHALE WATCH GUIDE & INFORMATION

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales are classified as vulnerable, although the population is slowly increasing.

Important Humpback Whale Facts

A Humpback Whales Diet consists of Fish, Plankton and Krill.

The Blow

The blow is very visible and distinctive – bushy, 2.5 to 3 metres tall and usually wide relative to its height.

Dimensions

Adult male (Bull) 14 to 18 metres
Female (Cow) 15 to 19 metres
Newborn (Calf) 4.5 metres
Weigh approximately 34 to 45 tons

Baleen Plates

Baleen whales have hundreds of comb-like plates that hang from their upper jaw. The plates overlap inside the mouth and have stiff hairs that form a sieve to filter food.

Migration Route

Approximately 6,500 of the worlds Humpback population passes the Hunter Coast line on their 12,000 kilometre migration.

What are they doing?

A slow swimmer at 8 kilometres per hour on average, but capable of quick bursts of speed, often stopping, they average 1.6 kilometres per hour during migration.

Travelling singly, in pairs, or pods of 5 to 10, they are rarely viewed more than 10 nautical miles from the coast of Port Stephens. They spend 2 to 3 minutes at the surface, breathing air every 20 to 30 seconds. A dive is usually 3 to 9 minutes long, average 7 minutes, but can be up to 40 minutes.

More Interesting Humpback Whale Facts

	Protected species since 1966
	One of the most energetic of the large whales
	Sings the longest, most complex songs in the animal kingdom
	Undertakes the longest documented migration of any individual mammal
	A humpback song is made up of two to nine separate themes, sings is specific order and can last up to half an hour. Only the male (bull) sings and will sometimes repeat the same short song for hours
	Humpbacks have the most diverse feeding techniques of all Baleen Whales, and scream when hunting fish to scare and confuse
	Humpbacks have fewer throat grooves and more baleen plates than related whales
	The spread of its jaw is over 4 metres, and the throat grooves are half the whale’s body length
	Feed solidly for 5 to 6 months and possibly faster during migration
	Humpbacks flippers are the longest appendages of any animal (up to 5 metres long)
	The knobs, or tubercles, vary in size and location for each whale. They are about the size of a golf ball and have a hair follicle with a single course hair between 1cm and 3cm growing out of its centre, possibly has some kind of sensory function
	Individual humpbacks can be identified by markings under their tail and flippers

Excerpt: Snowgums to Sands

The first whale sightings of the year occur around mid-May. Weighing forty-eight tonnes, the humpback whale should be easy to find. Determined whale-watchers, binoculars at the ready, look hopefully to sea from places such as Tomaree, Fishermans Bay and Stockton Beach.

A minimum sighting would be a puff of spray jetting skyward above a dark rounded mass surrounded by breaking water.

Lucky spectators will be treated to an hour of tail slapping, flipper waving and spectacular leaps out of the water. Charter boats take groups of people out into the blue waters off Port Stephens for a closer encounter. Stopping the required distance of hundred metres away from a whale, the boat will cut its engines if the whale approaches.

Both the humpback and the southern right whale are filter feeders. They travel north to idle away the winter in the warm waters of Queensland. Over the early winter months, about three thousand whales will pass by, with full bellies, and thoughts of a possible mate. To pass the time they sing and wave and loll about. Sometimes a whale will be seen scratching on a reef, rolling about like a friendly puppy. Every few years a whale will enter Port Stephens for a look around. News travels fast in a small town and in a short time hundreds of people will crowd the headlands to watch this special passing. It has become an increasingly frequent privilege to be able to watch the antics of this intelligent, friendly and enormous fellow traveller.

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