Humpback Whale By: Colt Kondo, AND Nikhil Yealuru

Adaptations Humpbacks travel in groups known as pods. When in a playful mood, they may put on spectacular displays of breaching, rolling, and slapping their pectoral fins. During the breeding season, the humpback males are known for singing the longest and most complex songs in the animal kingdom. An adult humpback's two lungs, each the size of a small car, are emptied and refilled in less than two seconds. As it surfaces, the humpback exhales through two blowholes on the top of its head. The air is expelled and cooled so rapidly that it forms a distinctive cloud, which is often mistaken for water!

Threats In the past, humpback whales were killed by commercial whalers all around the world, hunted for their oil, meat and whalebone. Hunting was banned in 1963 after the species became nearly extinct. In 2007, the Japanese proposed to resume killing the humpback. Other threats to humpback whales include them ingesting plastic, which gets stuck in their gut and leads to death, and becoming entangled in crayfish lines and pots. Supported by the Department of Environment and Conservation, the Western Rock Lobster Council has introduced a Code of Practice to help reduce whale entanglements. Natural predators include killer whales which prey on the young humpback calves.

Protection Humpback whales inhabit all of the world’s oceans, but are more numerous in the Southern Hemisphere. This was not always so: Southern Hemisphere humpback whales were severely impacted by commercial whaling and estimates suggest that populations were reduced to just 2 percent of their original size. A whaling moratorium has enabled some populations to recover, but their long-term health is far from certain.

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Bibliography ack-faq/threats/what-threats-are- endangering-the-humpback-whale ack-faq/threats/what-threats-are- endangering-the-humpback-whale 37-humpback-whale.html giants/humpback-whale.aspx