You’re on a private boat, ready for a whale watching trip. The captain expertly steers the ship away from the harbor and announces, “Y’all down there, a few minutes before we see anything!” You stand up. Just then, you hear a huge bellow and a loud stream of water coming from the side of the boat. It is a humpback whale! You lean over the side, excited to see more of these incredible creatures. First, let’s dive into the depths of the ocean to find out more about the characteristics of humpback whales along with the differences between them and others. Next, find out more about whale intelligence. Then, we’ll head to the research lab and look at what these creatures feast on. Afterwards, we’ll explore some of the implications and applications of biohazards created by humans before finally learning about the rich history of the whaling industry.

Humpback Whale Characteristics

Humpback whales (or megaptera novaeangliae) are one of the most common whales found on the planet. Humpback whales are massive marine animals capable of extraordinary feats of agility. They have vast migrations, traveling more than most other underwater species on Earth to find food and a partner to give birth to their

young each year. The underlying reason for their name is their distinct hump located on their backs. Humpback whales are gray and black in color with white undersides. Once, I was on a whale watching trip and sitting near the front of the boat. A lumbering shadow approached the boat and blasted out a huge stream of water. “Huh?” I thought, “Why do they do that?” I later realized that these were called blowholes. Each humpback whale has two blowholes and the purpose of them is that it allows whales to breathe when they surface from the water. They can hold their breath for about five to ten minutes underwater. Humpback whales are around 46 to 56 feet long and weigh around 44 tons (88,000 pounds). Males are generally larger than females. The flukes (patterns on the tails) are unique and scientists use these patterns to tell one whale apart from another. Another feature that humpback whales have are called barnacles, which are tiny bumps on the head and flippers of the whale. These vary in color and size. If you ever spot a white barnacle, they are called acorn barnacles. An acorn barnacle has a life span of 

 approximately 1 year. These white circles are scars left on the humpback's skin after the barnacles that resided there either died and fell off or were knocked off during breaching or rubbed off when rubbing against other whales. These scars can persist for 10-20 years. When humpback whales sleep, they shut down half of their brain. Being partially awake allows them to continue breathing and be aware of their surroundings. They usually stay in place as they sleep near the surface. As they rest, they are switching which hemisphere of the brain is awake. Just like us, they breathe air, have hair, are warm-blooded, give birth to live young, and feed their calf milk. Humpback whales are extremely active, often slapping their flippers and flukes on the surface of the sea. Humpback whales are famous for breaching and showing their tails when they dive. 

Whale Contraries

So, what is the difference between humpback whales and blue whales? As you may know, these two creatures are closely related and often hard to tell apart. According to oceanservice.noaa.gov, there are, by far, more humpback whales existing than blue whales. There are 150,000 individual humpbacks left on the planet and only 10,000 blue whales left. These whale numbers have been rebounding since the whale hunts of the 1960’s. The differences continue into the looks of both species of whales. Humpback whales are a bit shorter than blue whales, measuring only 46 to 56 feet. On the other hand, blue whales can grow up to 90 feet long (around 2 school buses). Another difference in appearance is that humpback whales have proportionally long flippers about ⅓ the size of their body, while blue whales have relatively short flippers. Similarly, both whale species have tiny pimple-like bumps on their heads and fins called barnacles. The size and shape of barnacles vary throughout the body. Humpback whales are very intelligent. They have coded different songs to mean different things, such as, when they have found food, an enemy, or a mate, these whales can make whistling sounds through their blowholes to communicate with one another underwater. Likewise, blue whales can do the same. They can emit low frequency vocalizations, which can travel very long distances. Likewise, both creatures have very high intelligence levels.

Intelligence of the Species

    Not only are humpback whales extremely intelligent, they also have complex social systems, make tools, and communicate extensively with both songs and social calls. Considered the “acrobats of the ocean”, humpback whales are deep-diving creatures that are both 

    exceedingly playful and endlessly curious. With a brain weighing one ton, it is no doubt that these whales demonstrate a high level of intelligence. Humpback whale brains contain specialized brain cells called spindle neurons. These are associated with advanced abilities such as recognizing, remembering, reasoning, communicating, perceiving, adapting to change, problem-solving and understanding. Humpbacks are famous for their breaching - a way of launching themselves out of the water using their tails and slapping the sea with their fins. Scientists believe that these behaviors are forms of communication. For instance, these signals help ward off predators or send messages to other whales. The bigger the splash, the longer the distance their signals carry. Male humpback whales are best known for their deep and bellowing melodies which are intricately coded to share different meanings, depending on the pitch, tone, and volume. According to nathab.com, all of the males in a particular humpback population sing the same song. It’s one that’s completely unique to the population, though the song gradually changes over time. With these unique and beautiful series of calls, they are truly, to the core, the “sirens of the sea”. 

Feast of the Ocean Giants

    Humpback whales make bubble nets to catch food. This effort is called bubble-net feeding. It requires a complicated, highly synchronized effort that shows high biological intelligence. One whale usually leads the endeavor, diving deep then rising up to the surface. From deep below, it'll begin to blow air to create bubbles. This confuses and traps the krill above. Krill are zooplankton - small invertebrates that swarm in the ocean near the surface. Although, these whales have another clever method. They stay still in one place and open their gigantic mouths and slowly let the fish swim inside. When it has reached its satisfaction level, the whale will then drain the water from its mouth. Since humpback whales (as well as other species of whales) have baleen plates on the contrary to teeth, they swallow the abundance of krill whole.

    Then, the whales take an epic number two. In one bowel movement, they can excrete over 200 liters of poo. Depending on the type of  whale and its dinner, feces can be neon yellow to brick red; fleecy in texture to having the consistency of liquid breadcrumbs. Even though whale poop sounds gross, it is actually beneficial to the environment. Whale poop is rich in iron, which is an important micronutrient for ocean creatures. Tiny marine plants called phytoplankton eat the iron, tiny krill eat the plants and whales and fish eat the krill. By feeding on iron-rich krill, in the deep

and returning some of that iron to the surface in the form of poop, whales are preserving a crucial element in the food web. You could say that iron-rich poop acted like manure on farm fields and gardens, fertilizing nutrition-poor ocean waters. It provided a base for the entire food chain that the rest of the ocean depended on. Excessive whaling might have broken this iron cycle. with less iron at the surface, everything crashes. Furthermore, whale poop not only helps keep the ocean ecosystem in balance, but scientists have recently discovered that it has the added benefit of helping remove excess carbon dioxide from the environment (the cause of global warming and climate change). 

The Great Migration

    Humpback whales live in all oceans around the world. They travel great distances every year and have one of the longest migrations of any mammal on the planet. Some populations swim 5,000 miles from tropical breeding grounds to colder, more productive feeding grounds. Humpback whales leave Alaska, their feeding grounds in the fall and swim almost non-stop until reaching their breeding grounds in Hawaii, which can take between 6-8 weeks. During the hotter months of the year, from November to May, humpback whales feed in the waters of the Antarctic. They then migrate north to their subtropical breeding grounds off the Queensland coast in Australia. Between May and July, humpback whales start heading north. At about 

3,000 miles each way which is why it takes them so long despite their epic size. Since krill isn't found in Hawaiian waters, humpback whales in Hawaii do not eat while here. They eat extra food to ensure that they can survive during the breeding season after the migration to Hawaii. Adults go for months at a time without eating, losing up to one-third of their body weight.

After embarking on their journey, they will search extensively for a safe breeding area for the females. The female whales have a gestation period of 10 to 13 months. Most travel 4000-5000 miles twice a year between their breeding and feeding grounds. Breeding and mating are done in warmer climates during the winter. When they arrive, they can weigh as much as one ton, and are generally 3-5m in length. For the first year of their life, they will remain by their mother's side. They nurse on her high-fat milk for at least 5 months and often as long as a year. The baby humpback whale is first born, the mother will gently nudge it to the surface of the water for its first breath. 

Changes in the Environment

    Humpback whales tend to dwell in Arctic to tropical waters. They live in shallow waters but go deep underwater to hunt for food. Unfortunately, due to global warming, there has not been a sustainable amount of food for these majestic creatures to feed on and their migration routes have been altered. As ocean temperatures rise, whales are migrating earlier and traveling further. Changes in ocean temperatures are critically endangering these animals. Humpback whales think that it is time to migrate when it is really not. "They are changing their migration cycles. They used to arrive here in July. Now we see them in May," said Ecuadorian marine biologist Cristina Castro as she scanned the horizon for more humpback whales, the species she has studied for the past 18 years. Whales are also continuing north beyond the equator, as far as Costa Rica—a behavior never seen before until now. Warmer waters are killing off the supply of krill, the small crustaceans that are whales' main food source in their Arctic feeding grounds. The whales eat several tons a day to fatten up for their journeys. But now, there isn’t enough krill to last them for even three months. Though these creatures jump up and splash around, they aren’t as healthy as they really appear to be. "You can see their bones. They're sick. They have parasites. We never used to see that," said Ecuadorian marine biologist Cristina Castro that appeared on phys.org. These

creatures are exhausted from their longer migration routes since climate change which started not so long ago. They have become skinny and have diseases. They are not used to this. Humpback whale numbers are dwindling because of us. We have to stop this menace. In spite of this, we are still able to help these creatures in our daily lives. We can turn off the faucet when we are not using it or take shorter showers. We can easily recycle things and reuse products. We can choose to use electric cars instead of gas powered ones. We may install solar panels for electricity. It should be noted that any attempts - even small ones - can make big impacts on the ocean environment.

History of Whaling

It was all the fault of commercial whaling – turning whales into barrels of oil for profit – that led to the destruction of most of the world's populations of humpback whales. Humans hunted humpback whales for the purpose of marketing their oil, meat, and whalebone from the 17th to early 20th centuries. Whaling has been an important economic activity in multiple regions throughout human history. Whale

    oil was highly used to light lamps along with other things as well. For these reasons, the whale oil market was booming. Commercial whaling was conspicuously reduced during the 19th century, due to the development of alternatives to whale oil for lighting, and the dramatic collapse in whale populations. Whales were captured using harpoons with wooden floats attached to long ropes. Once these animals are exhausted from dragging the floats, they would be killed with long lances and towed to shore. Their blubber would be removed and boiled down into oil in large iron vats called try-pots. After the ban in 1986, whaling became illegal, due to the fact that the species were crucially extinct. The United States Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The Act makes it illegal for any person residing in the United States to kill, hunt, injure, or harass all species of marine mammals (including humpback whales), regardless of their population status. Humpback whales are still hunted in Greenland and by the Bequians of St. Vincent and The Grenadines, for sustenance purposes, but only 1-2 whales are caught per year. In spite of this, Japan, Norway, and Iceland have killed nearly 40,000 large whales since the ban. Over 100,000 dolphins, small whales, and porpoises are also killed in various countries each year. Though, definite efforts have been made to this end. The population numbers of these species have been rebounding ever since the MMPA was passed, so there was some improvement from before. Although, this ban only relates to the US and to no other countries. Currently, many people are