February is a peak month for the influx of humpback whales on their Hawaii breeding grounds.  Every day more individuals arrive in the islands for socializing, mating, and in the case of females calving and perhaps even weaning last season’s calf. 

Many humpbacks that return annually to this warm water paradise are not yet sexually mature, yet they continue to make the 3,000 round trip journey.  Nobody knows why humpbacks leave their cold water feeding grounds; some scientists have hypothesized that calves may not be able to survive the cold water at birth without the one-foot thick layer of blubber insulation the adults possess, but some calves are born in the north and appear to survive just fine. 

Likewise, no one understands why humpbacks choose not to eat while they are on their breeding grounds.  Granted, food is in restricted supply compared to the nutrient-rich icy cold waters of the Pacific Northwest; needless to say, there is some food to be taken and certainly snacking could occur.  Yet sightings of feeding humpbacks in the tropics are rare if non-existent; likewise rarely is defecation seen in Hawaii other than when they first arrive and their exhalation is not as odiferous as it is in the northern latitudes where they are feeding on as much as 1200 pounds of krill every day.  Furthermore, whaling data shows there was little, if any, food in their stomachs and they were so light in body weight that whalers stopped taking humpbacks in the tropics.  Instead they would endure the rough and cold seas of Southeast Alaska and hunt them coming off their feeding grounds where the fat to body weight ratio was much higher and more oil could be rendered. 

So much of the lives of these creatures remains a mystery, but for whatever reason they continue each year, like clock work, to make their annual trek to Hawaii where we witness their magnificence.  Join our next adventure on Dan McSweeney’s Whale Watch on the beautiful Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.  Call 1-888-WHALES-6 for reservations.

Aloha,

Captain Dan

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 21st, 2009 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.