Humpbacks Whales

[Carlos Leon]

By Dagmar Reinhard

Using their massive flukes (tail fins), the humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) propel themselves through the water. Regularly, they catapult their 40 tons of body weight completely out of the water, landing with a tremendous splash.

At an average speed of 14 km/per hour, they are capable of migrating the globe, from Antarctica to the Pacific. Their endurance is amazing; they travel over 5000 km during each migration with almost no rest along the way.

They eat up to 1.5 tons of food a day; they feed on krill, tiny shrimp like animals, and small fish. They don’t have teeth, but baleen plates that trap the food they swallow.

Humpbacks have developed the hunting bubble-net feeding method, rounding up highly concentrated masses of prey. The hunting members of a pod create a circle of 3 to 31 m across and about 15 m under the water. Then, the humpbacks blow bubbles in a spiral path as they swim to the surface.

Twice a year we can admire these joyful giants along our beautiful Costa Ballena. Let’s make sure our future generations will be able to enjoy them, too.

Read more http://www.ballenatales.com/en/acrobatic-and-powerful-humpbacks-wha...