– Sperm whales are pretty awesome; equipped with a massive “battering ram” type head, they can dive to 10,000 feet and remain submerged for over an hour!  They also grow for 50 of their 80 year life cycle, and so must eat constantly. Oil contained in two chambers of their head was once burned, fueling the New England economy of an earlier day; one sperm whale could provide 100 barrels of oil.

When whales were hunted by wooden ships, the tables occasionally got turned, and the whales got to take a few whalers and their vessels with them. One such ship, the Essex, was sunk by a whale in 1820, the incident providing the inspiration for Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick. The 20 crewmen of the Essex endured for 3 months in open whale boats following the sinking of their ship, and only 8 crewmen ultimately survived.  Now Melville used a natural history book of the day for factual information on sperm whales, then exaggerated their aggressive qualities.  His legendary white whale was almost an embodiment of evil, but hey, I wouldn’t like being harpooned, either!

So the MonsterQuest team went searching for aggressive albino whales in the Atlantic off Portugal in a recent offering, and initially spotted dolphins, fish, and turtles; one diver even suffered a nasty facial sting from a Portuguese Man o’ War.  When whales were actually spotted, they tended to dive before the team got into position; can you blame them?  Eventually, pilot whales were inspected up close by team divers.

While sperm whales were not sighted muchless any white ones, the episode was nonetheless interesting for the lore on whales and whaling, which thankfully is no longer widely practiced.  Most intriguing was the fact that Melville apparently changed his ending to Moby Dick, originally planning to have both the whale and the ship perish in the finale.  In his published version, the whale takes out the Pequod and survives, heading out to parts unknown of the sea, a malevolent force of nature unconquered by man…

…now that’s what I call a happy ending!–You rule, Moby!–Woo-hoo!

Okay, so I’ve had a very crazy schedule over the past few days with staying up until three in the morning because I couldn’t sleep, orientation for school, and general cartoonists’ block, but I think I’m starting to get back on track. Today I managed to do two comics… One about kernel panic that took waaaaaaaay too long to draw, and one about the Roomba apocalypse. I’m still thinking about drawing another comic, as it’s only 12:03 a.m. and the night is young. I feel like drawing something cuddly, like a sperm whale or a blimp. Possibly something with Boxy the Robot if I can come up with a joke.
Really not much else to report… yeah…

I’ve had a kinda odd past couple of days. Basically a lot of drawing (and the odd Wikipedia-ing that goes along with drawing), a lot of Age of Empires III, a lot of the demo version of Battlefield 1942 (I like crashing the planes), eating toast at midnight, and a lot of Sleater-Kinney, all sandwiched between the Torchwood five-night mini-series on BBC America and sorting through all of the paperwork that I need to fill out for school. But hey, I managed to write a few more comics, and avoid going insane. Now that’s what I call multitasking.

I talked to tcynic about starting a Untitled Webcomic! Store on CafePress. I’m all for the idea of UW! t-shirts (man, I would so kill for a Submarines and Sperm Whales t-shirt or an Andrew Jackson, Guitar Hero shirt), but I’m just really not up for actually running an internet store. Eh, if tcynic is really into the idea of a UW! store, she’ll do it, but if she doesn’t and UW! eventually gets big enough, I might just open my own UW! store.

Also… This Just In: I’ve been re-reading the Questionable Content archives, and I came across the first panel of This comic: Belle And Sebitchslap?, #548, where Faye and Marten are discussing how to fight the band Belle & Sebastian, Faye says that Marten should take on Stuart Murdoch, and she’ll take out the rest of the band, and I generally agree with this statement (and Marten’s response about Belle & Sebastian writing nice songs), I think that it would be a better plan if Faye went after Mick Cooke (the strong one) and Marten took on the other five-ish people. That said, an indie band fighting characters from a webcomic about indie rock would be immensely entertaining.

So, India has crashed out of the T-20 world cup tournament. When Dhoni was asked in a post match interview if Sehwag’s absence contribute to the failure, he said, “Not as much as Jadeja’s presence…and the fact that we gambled on sending in Yuvi way down the order…and the fact that we gambled on chasing…and…To which the media asked, “Did any of your gambles pay off?” To which Mahi said, “Sure they did. With odds 4-1 in favour of India winning, I made a pile of cash.”

A new study has found that listening to ‘chilling’ music or music that ‘sends shivers down your spine’ activates the same pleasure centres in the brain as does cocaine. Reacting to this data, the music companies were reported to have complained, “Great, now they’re going to ban us too?”

A study has found that, like humans, sperm whales have baby sitters, too. So how does this work? “Hey, I need a babysitter.” “Okay, it’s going to cost you ten squid an hour.” And do the whale babysitters exhibited the same behavior as human baby sitters – talking incessantly on the phone, raiding the fridge and making out with their boyfriends?

Shiney Ahuja had been accused of rape by his eighteen year old maid. In a statement to the police, the Ahuja said, “There’s been a misunderstanding. When I said to her, kapde utaro, I meant take off the clothes from the clothesline.”

To which the maid reacted by saying, “I’ll never be able to completely explain, how you feel after something like that…worthless, violated, confused….n o t h i n g will ever be able to compensate for the degradation I feel…but, the huge out-of-court settlement will help tremendously.”

Sorry, I know that’s insensitive but I feel the whole thing sounds…fishy. She’s been alone with him for forty-five days and he attacks now? I’ll wait for the maid’s rape kit. If it does indeed confirm rape, I’ll gladly apologize.

The time is 1.00 p.m. and I just got the Mid-day. According to Mid-Day, Shiney Ahuja had apparently confessed to the crime. I apologize for the insensitive joke above. Being a woman, I know how heinous rape is. The problem is that treatment meted out to alleged perps under the rape and anti dowry laws is so ridiculous that one does feel for the man. The treatment seems to be arrest first, enquire later. It is just so easy to frame a guy! I personally know of two instances where this has happened. Hence, my earlier scepticism.

No real theme today–mostly just fun stuff!

Noir Movie
The Spirit

360 Blog
Matt Damon on the Importance of Water Access

Healthy and Hale
Dairy Alternative Month, Part II: Cheese

Health Food Talk
Food, Inc. Takes on America’s Food System

Barbie Fest
Using Barbie for a Positive Body Image

Whale City
Sperm Whales Make Great Babysitters

Strange Somethings
Kid Hit By Meteor Lives to Tell the Tale

Weird Animal Report
Ooh, It’s Raining Frogs, Yeah

Solidarity House
Thousands March for Child Abuse Victims

Diabetic Talk
New Risk Factor Found for Diabetes

Poetry
“Gollum in the A.M.“
“To Pele“
“We’re an American Brand“

Shane Gero, Dan Engelhaupt, Luke Rendell, and Hal Whitehead (2009) Who Cares? Between-group variation in alloparental caregiving in sperm whales

Abstract:

Although the details of the various systems of allocare in primates, rodents, and carnivores have been well described, little is known about the existence of alloparental care in cetaceans. It is believed that the matrilineal social organization of the sperm whale functions to provide vigilant allomothers for calves at the surface while mothers make deep dives for food. Sperm whale females do have a system of allocare, but details are unknown. This study aimed to elucidate sperm whale allocare, in particular: who escorts whose calf and whether or not calves suckle from nonparent females. Using photo identification and behavioral calf follows, we examined patterns of adult–infant interactions for 23 sperm whale calves in the Sargasso and Caribbean Seas. Although multiple individuals of both sexes escorted the calves, the system of escorting differed between the 2 sites. For all calves studied in the Caribbean, we found that 1 female provided most of the allocare but did not nurse the calf, whereas in the Sargasso, multiple females provided care for, and nursed, the young. We discuss differences between populations that may have resulted in the observed differences in these 2 systems of allocare and how these findings fit with current hypotheses on the roles of kin selection and reciprocal altruism in cooperative care in mammals.

Sneaky Whales Caught on Video

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090526/sc_livescience/caughtonvideowhalesstealfish

I am not a good racist. I never feel that comfortable telling a racist joke or making a racist observation. I can see how certain jokes are funny when other people tell them, but I can never really commit. That being said, when I told my foreign friend Rodolfo about this band, he said “that’s a ridiculous name. That’s like my friend Jeff’s aspiration to name some sort of endeavor Whale Dong.” And then he added “Si.”

Because he didn’t know what a sperm whale was! Because he’s foreign!

This is an ambient artist from Maryland on Little Fury Things (for now), who keeps getting better and better. His output is prolific and so is his Whale Dong.

Try/Buy

Disney’s environmentalist propaganda offensive, the movie “Earth,” serves up phenomenal how-did-they-get-that footage and delivers on its rated G promise to not sensationalize the endless murder sprees in the wild kingdom.

Plus, not a single polar bear or sperm whale drops the F-bomb.

Nevertheless, I find two scenes hauntingly disturbing:

1. ELEPHANTS SUCKING ON DUST — We see a mommy and baby elephant trudge through a drought-ravaged corridor of Africa.  Making the lack of water even worse are the clouds of dust that line their throats, thick enough to make the movie audience cough.

I know the camera crews thought they were being responsible documentarians by refusing to alter the story, but couldn’t they occasionally spare a bottle of frickin’ Snapple or spring water?  Inconsiderate bastards.

2. PACIFIST WALRUSES — Picture the scene… one famished and scrawny polar bear arrives on an island filled with fat and brawny walruses. The polar bear lunges, at nursing home speed, at the yummy walrus children.

How do the fully-armed (well, tusked) walruses respond? Most of them run away. A few of them scrape their daggers into the bear’s fur, but mostly you see tails. it’s a slow-motion chase to nowhere because the bear tires of running for food, and tires of simply living.

Although the walruses lucked out with a weak enemy, their parenting behavior and overall self-esteem is absolutely disgraceful. You could arm these walruses with fully-stocked F-16s and Apache helicopters and they would use them to fly away from the bear.

Honestly, the “Earth” storylines were no more compelling than the average nature documentary on the Discovery Channel. But all the drama in these kind of films is artificially constructed anyhow.

Spoiler Alert! Here’s what happens in the movie…  Animals are born, they eat, they look for more things to eat, they move around some more, and then they die.

There, I just saved you nine bucks a head.

The brain of the Sperm Whale is the largest known of any modern or extinct animal, weighing on average about 8 kilograms. However, it is not particularly large in proportion to its body size.

Like other toothed whales, Sperm Whales use echolocation as one means to find food because they live in an underwater habitat that has favorable acoustic characteristics and where visual range is limited due to absorption by water and often by suspended material. The whale emits a focused beam of high-frequency clicks covering a wide angle ahead of it. Sounds are generated by passing air from the bony nares through the phonic lips, a structure within the head. The skull, melon and various air sacs in the whale’s head all play important roles in forming and focusing the beam of sound. Echoes are received using the lower jaw as the primary reception path, from where they are transmitted to the inner ear via a continuous fat-filled canal.

More about Sperm Whales:

The Cetacean Society: http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/spermwhl.htm

National Geographic: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/sperm-whale.html

A Sperm Whale in Dominican Pod, 2005.

Over a million people were beached in the streets of France. The reasons for the beaching are unclear, but are likely to be related to the worsening economic conditions. Others have proposed that the demands of work, induce a state of confusion. The intriguing phenomenon affects schools, post offices, banks, courts and transports in what seems to be an act of solidarity, resulting in parlysis and often death.

From the epic fail department:

Talk about blue balls! This massive backup of sperm (whales) on an Australia beach left all 45 dead.

40 sperm whales die after 50 beach themselves north west of Tasmania. The ocean’s inhabitants are hard hit already, we need to determine if human activities had a role is this situation.

Singing Humpback Whales

the size of the Humpback

humpback whale breaching

HUMPBACK WHALES

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a Baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 metres (40–50 ft) and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 ib). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the water. Males produce a complex whale song, which lasts for 10 to 20 minutes and is repeated for hours at a time. The purpose of the song is not yet clear, although it appears to have a role in mating.

Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 kilometres each year. Humpbacks feed only in summer, in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or sub-tropical waters to breed and give birth in the winter. During the winter, humpbacks fast and live off their fat reserves. The species’ diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net feeding technique.

Like other large whales, the humpback was and is a target for the whaling industry. Due to over-hunting, its population fell by an estimated 90% before a whaling moratorium was introduced in 1966. Stocks of the species have since partially recovered; however, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution also remain concerns. There are at least 80,000 humpback whales worldwide. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, humpbacks are now the crimeajewel sought out by whale-watchers, particularly off parts of Australia and the United States..

Humpback whales are rorquals (family Balaenopteridae), a family that includes the blue whale, the fin whale, the Bryde’s whale, the Sei whale and the Minke whale. The rorquals are believed to have diverged from the other families of the suborder Mysticeti as long ago as the middle Miocene. However, it is not known when the members of these families diverged from each other.

Though clearly related to the giant whales of the genus Balaenoptera, the humpback has been the sole member of its genus since gray’s work in 1846. More recently though, DNA sequencing analysis has indicated both the humpback and the Gray whale are close relatives of the Blue Whale, the world’s largest animal. If further research confirms these relationships, it will be necessary to reclassify the rorquals.

The humpback whale was first identified as “baleine de la Nouvelle Angleterre” by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his Regnum Animale of 1756. In 1781, Georg Heinrich Borowski described the species, converting Brisson’s name to its Latin equivalent, Balaena novaeangliae. Early in the 19th century Lacepede shifted the humpback from the Balaenidae family, renaming it Balaenoptera jubartes. In 1846, John Edward Gray created the genus Megaptera, classifying the humpback as Megaptera longpinna, but in 1932, Remington Kellogg reverted the species names to use Borowski’s novaeangliae. The common name is derived from their humping motion when diving. The generic name Megaptera from the Greek mega-/μεγα- “giant” and ptera/πτερα “wing”, refers to their large front flippers. The specific name means “New Englander” and was probably given by Brisson due the regular sightings of humpbacks off the coast of New England.

Humpback whales can easily be identified by their stocky bodies with obvious humps and black dorsal colouring. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, which are actually hair follicles and are characteristic of the species. The tail flukes, which are lifted high in some dive sequences, have wavy trailing edges. There are four global populations, all being studied. North Pacific, Atlantic, and southern ocean humpbacks have distinct populations which make an annual migration. One population in the Indian Ocean does not migrate. The Indian Ocean has a northern coastline, while the Atlantic and Pacific oceans do not, thereby preventing the humpbacks from migrating to the pole.

The long black and white tail fin, which can be up to a third of body length, and the pectoral fins have unique patterns, which enable individual whales to be recognised. Several suggestions have been made to explain the evolution of the humpback’s pectoral fins, which are proportionally the longest fins of any cetacean. The two most enduring hypotheses are the higher maneuverability afforded by long fins, or that the increased surface area is useful for temperature control when migrating between warm and cold climates. Humpbacks also have ‘rete mirable’ a heat exchanging system, which works similarly to the same structured system in certain species of sharks and other fish. Humpbacks have 270 to 400 darkly coloured baleen plates on each side of the mouth. The plates measure from a mere 18 inches (460 mm) in the front to approximately 3 feet (0.91 m) long in the back, behind the hinge.Ventral grooves run from the lower jaw to the umbilicus about halfway along the bottom of the whale. These grooves are less numerous (usually 16–20) and consequently more prominent than in other rorquals. The stubby dorsal fin is visible soon after the blow when the whale surfaces, but has disappeared by the time the flukes emerge. Humpbacks have a distinctive 3 m (10 ft) heart shaped to bushy blow, or exhalation of water through the blowholes. Early whalers also noted blows from humpback adults to be 10 – 20 feet (6.1 m) high. Whaling records show they understood each specie has its own distinct shape and height of blows.

Newborn calves are roughly the length of their mother’s head. A 50-foot (15 m) mother would have a 20-foot (6.1 m) newborn weighing in at 2 short tons (1.8 MT). They are nursed by their mothers for approximately six months, then are sustained through a mixture of nursing and independent feeding for possibly six months more. Humpback milk is 50% fat and pink in color. Some calves have been observed alone after arrival in Alaskan waters. Females reach sexual maturity at the age of five with full adult size being achieved a little later. According to new research, males reach sexual maturity at approximately 7 years of age. Fully grown the males average 15–16 m (49–52 ft), the females being slightly larger at 16–17 m (52–56 ft), with a weight of 40,000 kg (or 44 tons); the largest recorded specimen was 19 m (62 ft) long and had pectoral fins measuring 6 m (20 ft) each. The largest humpback on record, according to whaling records, was killed in the Caribbean. She was 88 feet (27 m) long, weighing nearly 90 tons–although clearly bullshit to anyone with half a brain.

Females have a hemispherical lobe about 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter in their genital region. This allows males and females to be distinguished if the underside of the whale can be seen, even though the male’s size usually remains unseen in the genital slit. Male whales have distinctive scars on heads and bodies, some resulting from battles over females.

Females typically breed every two or three years. The gestation period is 11.5 months, yet some individuals can breed in two consecutive years. Humpback whales were thought to live 50–60 years, but new studies using the changes in amino acids behind eye lenses proved another baleen whale, the Bowhead, to be 211 years old. This was an animal taken by the Inuit off Alaska. More studies on ages are currently being done.

The varying patterns on the humpback’s tail flukes are sufficient to identify an individual. Unique visual identification is not possible in most cetacean species (exceptions include Orcas and Right Whales), so the humpback has become one of the most-studied species. A study using data from 1973 to 1998 on whales in the North Atlantic gave researchers detailed information on gestation times, growth rates, and calving periods, as well as allowing more accurate population predictions by simulating the mark-release-recapture technique. A photographic catalogue of all known whales in the North Atlantic was developed over this period and is currently maintained by Wheelock College. Similar photographic identification projects have subsequently begun in the North Pacific by SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks), and around the world. Another organization (Cascadia Research) headed by well known researcher John Calambokidis, along with Dr. Robin Baird, have joined with others from NOAA, hoping to soon have an online catalog of more than 3500 fluke identification pictures that the public can access, and possibly contribute to.

The humpback social structure is loose-knit. Usually, individuals live alone or in small transient groups that assemble and break up over the course of a few hours. Groups may stay together a little longer in summer in order to forage and feed cooperatively. Longer-term relationships between pairs or small groups, lasting months or even years, have been observed, but are rare. Recent studies extrapolate feeding bonds observed with many females in Alaskan waters over the last 10 years. It is possible some females may have these bonds for a lifetime. More studies need to be done on this. The range of the humpback overlaps considerably with many other whale and dolphin species — while it may be seen near other species (for instance, the Minke Whale), it rarely interacts socially with them. Humpback calves have been observed in Hawaiian waters playing with bottlenose dolphin calves.

Courtship rituals take place during the winter months, when the whales migrate toward the equator from their summer feeding grounds closer to the poles. Competition for a mate is usually fierce, and female whales as well as mother-calf dyads are frequently trailed by unrelated male whales dubbed escorts by researcher Louis Herman. Groups of two to twenty males typically gather around a single female and exhibit a variety of behaviours in order to establish dominance in what is known as a competitive group. The displays may last several hours, the group size may ebb and flow as unsuccessful males retreat and others arrive to try their luck. Techniques used include breaching, spy-hopping, lob-tailing, tail-slapping, flipper-slapping, charging and parrying. “Super pods” have been observed numbering more than 40 males, all vying for the same female. (M. Ferrari et al)

Whale song is assumed to have an important role in mate selection; however, scientists remain unsure whether the song is used between males in order to establish identity and dominance, between a male and a female as a mating call, or a mixture of the two. All these vocal and physical techniques have also been observed while not in the presence of potential mates. This indicates that they are probably important as a more general communication tool. Recent studies showed singing males attract other males. Scientists are extrapolating possibilities the singing may be a way to keep the migrating populations connected. (Ferrari, Nicklin, Darling, et al.) It has also been noted that the singing begins when the competition ends.

The species feeds only in summer and lives off fat reserves during winter. Humpback whales will only feed rarely and opportunistically while in their wintering waters. It is an energetic feeder, taking krill and small schooling fish, such as herring (Clupea harengus), salmon,capelin (Mallotus villosus) and sand lance (Ammodytes americanus) as well as Mackerel (Scomber scombrus), pollock (Pollachius virens) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) in the North Atlantic. Krill and Copepods have been recorded from Australian and Antarctic waters. It hunts fish by direct attack or by stunning them by hitting the water with its pectoral fins or flukes.

The humpback has the most diverse repertoire of feeding methods of all baleen whales. Its most inventive technique is known as bubble net feeding: a group of whales blows bubbles while swimming in circles to create a ring of bubbles. The ring encircles the fish, which are confined in an ever-tighter area as the whales swim in a smaller and smaller circles. The whales then suddenly swim upward through the bubble net, mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp. This technique can involve a ring of bubbles up to 30 m (100 ft) in diameter and the cooperation of a dozen animals. Some of the whales take the task of blowing the bubbles through their blowholes. some dive deeper to drive fish toward the surface, and others herd fish into the net by vocalizing. Humpbacks have been observed bubblenet feeding alone as well.

Humpback whales are preyed upon by Orcas. The result of these attacks is generally nothing more serious than some scarring of the skin, but it is likely that young calves are sometimes killed.

Both male and female humpback whales can produce sounds, however only the males produce the long, loud, complex “songs” for which the species is famous. Each song consists of several sounds in a low register that vary in amplitude and frequency, and typically lasts from 10 to 20 minutes. Songs may be repeated continuously for several hours; humpback whales have been observed to sing continuously for more than 24 hours at a time. As cetaceans have no vocal cords, whales generate their song by forcing air through their massive nasal cavities.

Whales within an area sing the same song, for example all of the humpback whales of the North Atlantic sing the same song, and those of the North Pacific sing a different song. Each population’s song changes slowly over a period of years —never returning to the same sequence of notes.

Scientists are still unsure of the purpose of whale song. Only male humpbacks sing, so it was initially assumed that the purpose of the songs was to attract females. However, many of the whales observed to approach singing whales have been other males, with the meeting resulting in a conflict. Thus, one interpretation is that the whale songs serve as a threat to other males. Some scientists have hypothesized that the song may serve an echolocative function. During the feeding season, humpback whales make altogether different vocalizations, which they use to herd fish into their bubble nets.

The humpback whale is found in all the major oceans, in a wide band running from the Antarctic ice edge to 65° N latitude, though is not found in the eastern Mediterranean or the baltic Sea. There are at least 80,000 humpback whales worldwide, with 18,000-20,000 in the North Pacific, about 12,000 in the North Atlantic, and over 50,000 in the Southern Hemisphere, down from a pre-whaling population of 125,000.

The humpback is a migratory species, spending its summers in cooler, high-latitude waters, but mating and calving in tropical and sub-tropical waters. An exception to this rule is a population in the Arabian Sea, which remains in these tropical waters year-round. Annual migrations of up to 25,000 kilometres (16,000 statute miles) are typical, making it one of the farthest-travelling of any mammalian species.

A 2007 study identified seven individual whales wintering off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica as those which had made a trip from the Antarctic of around 8,300 km. Identified by their unique tail patterns, these animals have made the longest documented migration by a mammal.

In Australia, two main migratory populations have been identified, off the west and east coast respectively. These two populations are distinct with only a few females in each generation crossing between the two groups.

One of the first attempts to hunt the humpback whale was made by John Smith in 1614 off the coast of Maine. Opportunistic killing of the species is likely to have occurred long before, and it continued with increasing pace in the following centuries. By the 18th century, the commercial value of humpback whales had been recognized, and they became a common target for whalers for many years.

By the 19th century, many nations (the United States in particular), were hunting the animal heavily in the Atlantic Ocean, and to a lesser extent in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It was, however, the introduction of the explosive harpoon in the late 19th century that allowed whalers to accelerate their take. This, along with hunting beginning in the Antarctic Ocean in 1904, led to a sharp decline in most whale populations.

It is estimated that during the 20th century at least 200,000 humpbacks were taken, reducing the global population by over 90%, with the population in the North Atlantic estimated to have dropped to as low as 700 individuals.

To prevent extinction, the International Whaling Commission introduced a ban on commercial humpback whaling in 1966. That ban is still in force. By that time humpback whales were so scarce that commercial hunting was no longer worthwhile.

At this time, 250,000 were recorded killed. However, the true toll is likely to be higher. It is now known that the Soviet Union was deliberately under-recording its kills; the total Soviet humpback kill was reported at 2,820 whereas the true number is now believed to be over 48,000.

As of 2004, hunting of humpback whales is restricted to a few animals each year off the Caribbean island Bequia in the nation of St.Vincent and the Grenadines. The take is not believed to threaten the local population.

Japan had planned to kill 50 humpback whales in the 2007/08 season under its JARPA II research program in the Antarctic ocean, starting in November 2007. The announcement sparked global protests. After a visit to Tokyo by the chairman of the IWC, asking the Japanese for their co-operation in sorting out the differences between pro- and anti-whaling nations on the Commission, the Japanese whaling fleet agreed that no humpback whales would be caught for the two years it would take for the IWC to reach a formal agreement.

Internationally this species is considered vulnerable. Most monitored stocks of humpback whales have rebounded well since the end of the commercial whaling era, such as the North Atlantic where stocks are now believed to be approaching pre-hunting levels. However, the species is considered endangered in some countries where local populations have recovered slowly, including the United States.

Today, individuals are vulnerable to collisions with ships,entanglement in fishing gear, and noise pollution. Like other cetaceans, humpbacks are sensitive to noise and can even be injured by it. In the 19th century, two humpback whales were found dead near sites of repeated oceanic sub-bottom blasting, with traumatic injuries and fractures in the ears.

Once hunted to the brink of extinction the humpback whale has made a dramatic comeback in the North Pacific Ocean. A study released May 22, 2008 estimates that the humpback whale population that hit a low of 1,500 whales before hunting was banned worldwide, has made a comeback to a population of between 18,000 and 20,000.

The ingestion of saxitoxin, a Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) from contaminated mackerel has been implicated in humpback whale deaths.

Some countries are creating action plans to protect the humpback; for example, in the United Kingdom, the humpback whale has been designated as a priority species,one of the crimeajewels under the national Biodiversity Action Plan, generating a set of actions to conserve the species. The sanctuary provided by National Parks such as Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and Cape Hatteras National seashore, among others, have also become a major factor in sustaining the populations of the species in those areas.

Although much was known about the humpback whale due to information obtained through whaling, the migratory patterns and social interactions of the species were not well known until two separate studies by R. Chittleborough and W. H. Dawbin in the 1960s. Roger Payne and Scott McVay made further studies of the species in 1971. Their analysis of whale song led to worldwide media interest in the species, and left an impression in the public mind that whales were a highly intelligent cetacean species, a contributing factor to the anti-whaling stance of many countries.

In August 2008, the IUCN changed the whale’s status from Vulnerable to Least Concern, although two subpopulations remain endangered.

Humpback whales are generally curious about objects in their environment. Some individuals, referred to as “friendlies”, will approach whale-watching boats very closely, often staying under or near the boat for many minutes. Because humpbacks are often easily approachable, curious, easily identifiable as individuals, and display many behaviors, they have become the mainstay of whale-watching tourism in many locations around the world since the 1980s.

As with other cetacean species, however, a mother whale will generally be extremely protective of her infant, and will seek to place herself between any boat and the calf before moving quickly away from the vessel. Whale-watching tour operators are asked to avoid stressing the mother.

Migaloo A presumably albino crimeajewel of a humpback whale that travels up and down the east coast of Australia has become famous in the local media, on account of its extremely rare all-white appearance. The whale, first sighted in 1991 and believed to be 3-5 years old at that time, is called Migaloo (a word for “white fellow” from one of the languages of the Indigenous Australians). Speculation about the whale’s gender was resolved in October 2004 when researchers from Southern Cross University collected sloughed skin samples from Migaloo as he migrated past Lennox Head, and subsequent genetic analysis of the samples proved he is a male. Because of the intense interest, environmentalists feared that the whale was becoming distressed by the number of boats following it each day. In response, the Queensland and New South Wales governments introduce legislation each year to order the maintenance of a 500 m (1,600 ft) exclusion zone around the whale. Recent close up pictures have shown Migaloo to have skin cancer and/or skin cysts as a result of his lack of protection from the sun.

In 2006, a white calf was spotted with a normal humpback mother in Byron Bay,New South Wales.
One of the most notable humpback whales is Humphrey the whale, who was rescued twice in California by The Marine Mammal Center and other concerned groups. The first rescue was in 1985, when he swam into San Francisco Bay and then up the Sacramento river towards Rio vista.. Five years later, Humphrey returned and became stuck on a mudflat in San Francisco Bay immediately north of Sierra Point below the view of onlookers from the upper floors of the Dakin Building. He was pulled off the mudflat with a large cargo net and the help of a Coast Guard boat. Both times he was successfully guided back to the Pacific Ocean using a “sound net” in which people in a flotilla of boats made unpleasant noises behind the whale by banging on steel pipes, a Japanese fishing technique known as “oikami.” At the same time, the attractive sounds of humpback whales preparing to feed were broadcast from a boat headed towards the open ocean. Since leaving the San Francisco Bay in 1990 Humphrey has been seen only once, at the Farallon islands in 1991.

A humpback whale mother and calf captivated the San Francisco Bay Area in May 2007. This pair appeared to have gotten lost on their Northern migration, swam into the bay and up the Sacramento River as far as the port of sacramento. First spotted on 13 May, the whales inspired intense news coverage and were named Delta and Dawn. Whale fans became worried as the whales, both injured with what were possibly cuts caused by boat propellers, continued their stay in the brackish waters, despite efforts to get them to return to the sea. Unexpectedly, on 20 May they headed back towards the bay, but they tarried near the Rio Vista bridge for 10 days. Finally, on Memorial Day weekend, they left Rio Vista,California; passing Tuesday night, 29 May, through the golden Gate Bridge out to the Pacific Ocean.

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – Already crippled by their economic crisis, the Icelandic government has now been festooned with “ghost ships” sailing into port.

For this import-dependent economy, ships arriving with both crew and cargo missing has quickly become a critical issue.

Now government marine biologists say they have finally solved the mystery: the passengers and cargo were seized by giant squid who yanked them overboard and ate them!

“Our findings will probably come as a great disappointment to those who were looking for a more mundane and resolvable explanation,” said sea-life expert Dr. Jon Bogadottir, who helmed the emergency study.

“However, we have collected insurmountable evidence pointing simply to giant hungry squid.”

Authorities are unsure of what the next step should be. “With no end in sight for this economic crisis, the country cannot afford for vital food imports to be stolen by these beastly creatures!” exclaimed Althing (Icelandic parliament) member Kjartan Holm. “We must find their weakness and crush them!”

Most proposals have involved the use of the giant squid’s chief predator, sperm whales. The most lauded and controversial plan involved lassoing two whales to each cargo ship, to act as escorts across the sea.

Greenpeace are expected to reveal their protest campaign shortly.

I’ve been following National Geographic’s YouTube channel casually over the past few months — it’s always good for a quick and entertaining glimpse into the natural world. Sperm Whale Diving details the slightly terrifying nature of the mama and baby whale relationship — imagine leaving your infant to bob at the surface while you descend to the ocean’s depths. Oh, and all while “companion fish” cling to the surface of your baby. Sperm whales are tough, man.

And in case you missed the news, Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy premiered all over the Internets today. Only two sketches are currently online, but we got a sneak peak at 10 of them last week — read all about it at NewTeeVee Station today!

Homosexuwhales. And here’s all you need to know about sperm whales, in case, y’know, you’re interested.

Whales were created as the animals which takes care of their family, after dinosaurs became extinct. Whales dive in the deep sea. This is informing that there is a continent of Mu sank under the sea. They have feet. This is to disperse water pressure because the body is pressed by water pressure. Sperm whales have fat in their head. This is to dive into deep sea with their head as a weight.