When whales launch themselves out of the water, what are they thinking about?
What are they DOING out there?
whale watchers In September 2015, a humpback whale breached
in Northern California and nearly squashed two casual kayakers into jellyfish.
They survived without a scratch, and Professor Joy Reidenberg from Mount Sinai University
told The Guardian she believes the way the whale breached and turned showed it saw them,
was surprised, and tried to protect them!
She said quote, "I think you.. survived because the whale cared about trying not to hit you."
Whales are beautiful, majestic, and completely and utterly massive; both in scientific and
hyperbolic meaning.
Humpback whales can weigh more than 40 tons (35 metric tons) and be up to 52 feet long!
For perspective, a fully grown humpback is the weight of TWO city buses and extends twelve
feet longer!
But why would something so huge throw itself out of the water like that?
Whales, like some other marine animals, breach, the most famous are Spock's favorite, the
Humpback whale.
By observing whales, marine researchers found they usually shoot out of the water, twisting
in mid-air and splashing down on their back or side in spectacular fashion.
Scientists have a number of different hypotheses as to WHY whales breach, because to be honest,
we don't know.
It's not like we can ask them, yet.
For example, when they come down on their skulls, they could attack, or ward off other
whales… they could even do it to impress and compete for mates.
Another hypothesis, is they're jumping to create the smacking sound on the water, to
attract the attention of or warn off other whales.
This is supported by humpback's unexplained lobtailing behavior -- which is when they
slap the surface with their tail, creating a very loud smacking noise.
They do the same with their fins, perhaps to warn the rest of their pod.
Yet another hypothesis, is when they hear a ship approaching they pop up to take a look
around, simultaneously warning the ship of a pod in their presence.
And still ANOTHER hypothesis is the breaching helps move food through their digestive system
when they're mass feeding!
Researchers following pods of whales often look for DNA evidence of the identities of
the whales they're tracking, and they discovered debris and DNA in the water after a breach;
this got them thinking…
Perhaps breaching is part of a self-cleaning behavior!
Barnacles attach and grow on surfaces in the ocean.
They're famously attached to boats, piers, rocks and of course, sometimes humpback whales.
One humpback whale, can host as many as 1,000 pounds of barnacles; and though scientists
don't think they harm the whale they may get annoying, itchy, or could cause drag in the
water.
So, another hypothesis says, whales breach to clean barnacles off!
It's not like they have thumbs to grab a scraper, so by breaching and slapping their 80,000
pounds back onto the surface, they strip away some of their barnacle buddies and exfoliate
dead skin; which is where the DNA and debris come from!
Though they're slower, it's fairly easy for the humpbacks to breach, with only a few strokes
of their powerful tails, they can accelerate to 26 feet per second (8 m/s) throwing nearly
their entire body out of the water.
According to marine biologists, slower whales tend to breach MORE, not the faster ones,
and yet another hypothesis purported by whale watchers is that humpbacks are breaching for
the fun of it; though scientists think it's more about display, communication, or dominance
than enjoyment.
Whatever reason these intelligent mammals have for hurling themselves skyward, it's
beautiful, and part of the spectacle of nature.
But next time, hopefully, there won't be a kayak too close.
Have you ever seen a breaching whale?
Share pictures with us!
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