An amazing swimmer, singer, and binge eater
who can steal your girlfriend any day. The real hunchback of Notre Dame. No, we're not talking about
our hunky producer Dylan. We're talking about the humongous humpback whale. Oh my god. Jesus Christ. Insane. Hi, I'm Danielle Dufault and
you're watching Animaogic. Today we're just off the coast of Victoria BC, and
we're gonna go and look for some humpback whales. Oh, show us that tail. Oh wow. The humpback whale gets its name from
its most emblematic feature, it's hump. The hump is located around its dorsal
fin, which can be seen when it dives. In addition to a large hump, it also
has unusually long pectoral fins, which can be a third of its total body length,
or five metres in the largest individuals. In fact, its scientific name megaptera
novaeangliae, means the giant wings of New England, after its fins and the
area where it used to be most common. This coastline is still famous
for being home to several whales. It didn't take long to see one. Oh, that's a humpback whale! It's so close. Look at that tail. Humpback whales are members of the rorqual
family, the largest mammals to ever live. Their cousins include the gigantic Fin Whale,
which can be 25 metres long and weigh 75 tons, and the Blue Whale, which can reach 30
metres in length and weigh over 150 tons, 30 times heavier than an African elephant. Compared to these Leviathans, humpback
whales look like pocket whales, but they're still massive at 15
metres long and 30 tons in weight. That means they don't have to
worry about us puny little humans. I'm told that they're really
not intimidated by passing boats because they're whales and are
much larger than our little boat. I can imagine it would take
a lot to intimidate a whale. Though, they should care a
little because collisions with boats is one of the main causes of mortality. Some of the survivors carry gnarly
scars for the rest of their lives. To get to this size they need to eat a lot. A single humpback whale can
eat over a ton of food a day. Most of their prey weighs just a few grams, which means humpies can catch
over a million animals a day. Their favourite prey are krill, tiny
crustaceans which are some of the most abundant animals on Earth, and schools of
small fish like baby salmon and herring. Sometimes when eating they'll do the
coolest thing you'll ever see: a breach. Just witnessed my first whale
breach and here it goes again. Oh, insane. This behemoth just...just launched
itself out of the ocean, unbelievable. They make they make it look so easy, right? We're still not sure why humpbacks breach. The main theories are that they
do it as a form of communication, as a way of getting rid of parasites, or as a
consequence of feeding close to the surface. Hello. Whale watchers and the whale guides around here know the individuals that live in the
area, or at least frequent the area. They keep these photo guides
of the bottom of the tails. Every single whale has its own pattern, just
as well as we have our own fingerprints. Obviously, there isn't enough time
in a day to fish a million krill. Humpback whales and their rorqual brethren have
adapted to turn their mouths into giant nets. The process is called lunge feeding. The whale swims towards a school of fish or
a swarm of krill and opens its giant mouth swallowing the whole gang. Of course, good food attracts
more diners than just whales. Sea lions and seagulls are
quick to join the party. We've got a whole assortment of
flippers sticking up right now. We've got tail flukes and flippers, and
dorsal fins from this humpback whale. But we've also got the flippers
from all these Stellar sea lions. When the mouth opens it can take in more
water weight than its own body weight. The lower jaw can expand sideways because the
left and right side are not fused like our jaws, but rather, separate like our ribs. The nerves and the arteries are stretchy and they can quickly snap back
once the water is pushed out . This is the largest biomechanical event on Earth. Their feeding tactic combined
with elite diving ability makes them the bane of the krill's existence. These humpback whales can spend up to 20 minutes underwater before coming
back up and getting a breath. So you know after you see one and it dives down, it might be a while before
you get to see it again. Humpbacks are unique in their family in
that they can cooperate to hunt fish. There's a technique called bubble-net
feeding, where several humpbacks surround a large school of fish and blow bubbles
around it to prevent fish from escaping. Then the circle contracts and all the whales
swim up taking the entire school in one go. Once the dumb fish are in their mouth, they
use their giant tongues to push out the water. The baleen plates, the moustache-like
structures in their mouth, strain the fish, which are then swallowed whole. The throat of a humpback whale
is about as wide as an orange. They have no teeth, so they can't
swallow anything larger than that. If you happen to find yourself in the mouth of a
humpback, don't worry, it won't swallow you alive. Humpback whales spend their winter months
down south where it's nice and warm. They'll mate and get their party on. But there's not much for them
to eat down there so they need to migrate north again during the summer to eat. During their winter baccanalia, they
can go without eating for a few months. Winter is also their breeding
season and competition is fierce. Males sing songs to induce estrus and females
and to give themselves a better chance of mating. So yep, throughout Earth and across
species, ladies love musicians. All humpbacks in a region sing the same
song, which can be up to 20 minutes long. The slow deep sounds have
been described as soothing. Records of them were even included in the
voyager spacecraft for aliens to check out. Just remember aliens, they're
meant to make you excited. Unfortunately, during the commercial
whaling era, humpbacks were over-hunted. By the 1950s there were less than
500 alive in the whole world. But thanks to worldwide protections their
numbers have rebounded to almost 25,000. I love when conservation
stories have a happy ending. It takes a lot of work, but it is
possible to save our biodiversity. So what should we talk about next time? Please let me know in the comments and be sure to subscribe for new
episodes of Animalogic every week. Thanks for watching, see ya.
