Humpback Whales

Sound generally travels three times faster and further under the water than in the air, which makes it an ideal medium for communication. While all whales are able to emit sounds, the humpback seems unique in the diversity of vocalisations it produces. Some of the sounds of humpbacks are organised into repeating patterns which are described as ‘songs’

Click Here to listen to the whale song of the Humpback whale.

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The humpbacks are by far the most common whales to be found in Australian waters. It is believed that as many as 100,000 existed before white settlement and the commencement of whaling in Australia. By the time whaling ceased in Australian waters in 1962, only 200 were left. The present population has built up from those 200 humpback whales to an estimated 3000 making the annual migration to north-eastern Australian waters this year.

Humpback whales take their name from the habit of breaking the water surface with a large area of their backs when diving. They are the fifth largest animal on this planet, growing to a size equivalent to 11 elephants or 600 humans each !

Humpbacks are the most acrobatic of all of the great whales displaying a wide variety of leaping, rolling and breaching movements which provide fascinating viewing for whale watching humans. Adult humpbacks have been seen to breach 20 - 30 times in succession, averaging only 10 seconds between breachings. Humpbacks are also known for their complex underwater vocalisations or whale songs particularly during breeding.

Picture: Humpback checking out the crowd.

According to marine biologists, humpback whales spend the warmer summer months in Antarctic waters feeding on krill. As winter approaches they start their annual migration north to the central and southern Great Barrier Reef. Calves are born in the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef and then commence their first migration with their mothers back to Antarctica. Many migrating humpback whales stop off at Platypus Bay, a warm, shallow, sheltered bay on the eastern side of Hervey Bay, up against the northern tip of Fraser Island. Fraser Island is a World Heritage listed area for many other reasons, but it is because of the humpback whales that Platypus Bay is part of the Hervey Bay Marine Park

Along with dolphins, humpback whales are cetaceans, a family of marine mammals. More specifically, they are baleen whales which means they feed by straining their food from seawater through a series of plates on their upper jaws. They strain out plankton and very small crustaceans called krill from the water. This is their only food, so it is clear that humpback whales present no danger to humans or other large life forms by their eating habits. Only their tremendous size can present a danger to boats or swimmers that venture too near. Although there are laws to control how close boats and swimmers may go to whales, there are no such laws that stop them coming up really close to the boats to look at the people.

Growing to a length of 15 metres, humpback whales can weigh up to 45 tonnes. They have a massive head that they are fond of popping high up out of the water to get a good one-eyed look at the humans. This behaviour is known as a spy-hop. Along the underside of their body they have up to 22 throat pleats running from their chins to their navel. Yes, whales do have a navel because, as mammals, they were once attached to their mother by an umbilical cord. These cetaceans have a very rough and ragged appearance once you get up close, with many knobs and lumps on their skin, liberally interspersed with barnacles.

Other outstanding features of the humpbacks' appearance are their huge pectoral fins which can be up to a third the length of their entire body, and their huge tail flukes. These body-parts are featured in some of the most interesting of whale behaviours: pectoral fin extension, pec slapping, and tail slapping.

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Whales and boats

Every year from June to November the migration of hundreds of humpback whales attracts heaps of extra boat traffic to the waters.

Most of the time boats and whales can happily co-exist, but there are inherent problems, which is why National Parks and Wildlife Rangers spend a lot of time keeping whale watches informed of what they can and can't do.

Once you spot a whale there are three rules you have to observe.

Your approach speed drops down to less than 4 knots within 300 metres of the whale.

You can't go closer than 100 metres to the whale, make that 300 metres if there are three or more vessels already in the area.

Lastly, when coming up behind a whale you are expected to slow down and come off the plane, and to avoid hitting a turtle or dugong.