#humpback whales

[redrcs]

Sequence of play.

Two Humpback whales playing, Platypus Bay, K'gari.

On my travels.

[chasingrainbowsforever]

~ Bright Blue ~

[jackdawsfavorite]

Humans used recorded* whale calls to have a mutual conversation with a humpback whale! We aren’t totally sure what we were saying other than a greeting, but the whale approached, responded, and, “consistently matched the interval variations between each playback call,” for 20 minutes.

*and analyzed, they weren’t just firing off at complete random

All the investment seems to be oriented towards eventually having language analysis abilities that we can use to communicate with aliens —the team responsible is even called Whale-SETI— but my ass is like, “Who cares?? We don’t even know if there’s anyone within reach out there! The whales are right here!!”

[whereifindsanity]

lan McAllister

[alithographica]

the first humpback whale porn ever and it's gay. good for them

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Bubblenetting

In their Antarctic feeding grounds, humpback whales gorge on fat-rich krill for months, building up their blubber reserves for the challenging journey to tropical breeding grounds. Using a remarkable technique known as ‘bubble netting’, they skillfully trap their prey with precision

Photograph: Scott Portelli

The Siena International Photo Awards

[mammalidentifier]

Sir that humpback whale image you just ID'd is AI-generated

Oh man, really? If that’s so, I’m definitely embarrassed! I like to think I’m good at telling AI generated images apart from actual pictures and I do have the habit to zoom in particularly “majestic” shots of animals to look for the usual telltale signs of AI images before reblogging them (such as elements melting into each other and that classic unnatural “shininess”) but I swear that this time nothing really caught my eye.

Either way, given that this is an animal identification blog and AI generated images of animals are like, notoriously inaccurate and the fact they’re taking over online image search engines is a pretty serious (and annoying) issue, I think it’s better to err on the side of caution and remove that post. To make up for it, here are some pictures of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that are guaranteed of being of real animals!

[art3mis-exe]

Why is the ocean so pretty? When the waves clash against the ocean and there is a light blue splash from the impact. It’s so shimmery and beautiful. Also the aesthetic of the ocean is so beautiful and cool. Jellyfish, purple, pink, blue, cute otters and whales. Pinch me 🤧

[allisonchinart]

Humpback whales 🐋 | x

[griefladenribs]

spiritually im just a whale, because like, what a DREAM to be swimming in large beautiful oceans, breaching for the joy of it, lazily lunge feeding, living in harmony and singing hauntingly serene songs

[mindblowingscience]

University of Queensland-led research has found migrating humpback whales off Australia's east coast became less stressed over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research paper is published in Marine Environmental Research. Dr. Jake Linsky from UQ's School of the Environment led a study out of Moreton Bay Research Station to measure the health of the species during a time of unprecedented change in human activity. "We used drone photographs and blubber samples to assess the health of eastern Australian humpback whales in the waters off Minjerribah—North Stradbroke Island—during their migration in 2020 and 2021," Dr. Linsky said.

Continue Reading.

[redrcs]

The boys, competing.

Male Humpback whales having a Barney, Platypus Bay, K'gari.

They were moving fast and very pushy.

On my travels

[chasingrainbowsforever]

~ Humpback Whales ~

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Catching Krill With Bubble Nets

On their own and in groups, some humpback whales enclose their prey in bubbly columns before feeding. The whales build these bubble nets intentionally, swimming in a ring at a constant speed while producing bursts of air from their blowhole. (Image credit: C. Le Duc; research credit: A. Szabo et al.; via Gizmodo) Read the full article

[balaenabooks]

Turns out there's a little free library in Fisherman's Wharf. This one is right outside one of the whalewatching offices.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Humpback whales (like these in the coastal waters of the Antarctic Peninsula) have long been observed creating rings of bubbles to corral prey.

Photograph By Whale Research Solutions