Humpback+Whale



By Anna W.

The humpback whale is the fifth largest of the great whales. They are named humpback whale because of the "hump" that can be seen as the whale arches its back. The humpback whale is a type of baleen whale which means that instead of teeth it has between 270 and 400 baleen plates. These plates hang from the top of their jaw. Humpback whales are a black to grayish color. They can be up to 50 feet long and can reach a maximum of 48 tons. The flippers on a humpback whale can be 16 feet long. The whale also has a small dorsal fin. The underside of their tail fluke is white with black patterning, which is different to each whale. Humpbach whales can be found all over the world. Just like other baleen whales, humpback whales migrate. This meaning that they live in polar, temperate, subtropical, and tropical climate zones at different times of the year. Humpback whales live both in shallow waters and in open ocean. Humpback whales eat mostly krill and small fish. They eat by taking big gulps of water and filtering their food between their baleen plates. Usually once every two years breeding takes place in tropical waters during the winter. Humpback whales have a one year pregnancy. When calves are born they are 14 feet lonf and can weigh 2.5 tons. They are born tail first. Twins are extremely rare. Nursing ends at about 11 months after they are born. Humpback whales can live up to 77 years old. Also the whales live in small groups of 2-5 indivduals. Humpback whales are very energenic. Male humpback whales are known for their singing. The humpback whale is an endangered speices because of human distubance, entanglement in nets, collisions with vessels, ingestion of plastic, and hunying before 1963. After 1963 whale hunting was banned because the whale was nearly extinct. They were hunted for their their meat,oil, and whale bone. Many times, whales are tangled in nets and fishing line and they are strangled to death. If the whale ingest plastic, the plastic builds up in their stomach and leads to a slow death. We must try not to litter to kepp this from happening. Everyone in the world has to work together to prevent these graceful creatures from becoming extinct. One thing we can do to save the humpback whale from extinction is if you se a whale tangled up in rope or fishing gear call the Departmant of Environment and Conservation so they can help the animal. Also boats shouldn't come any closer to a whale than about 330 feet.Another thing you can do is if you are in the water and a whale approaches you must stay at least about 100 feet away. Also we need to stop littering the whole way around the world. If we just stop littering in one spot it's not going to help the whales. Everyone around the world has to work together to save the humpback whale from extinction.