This humpback whale, photographed off the Pacific coast of Colombia, made an epic 13,000 km journey.
Scientists have found that a humpback whale made one of the longest and most unusual migrations on record, driven by the search for a breeding mate.
IN 2017 this male whale was spotted in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Colombia, and a few years later he appeared off the coast of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, swimming no less than 13,000 km. Experts suggest that the reason for such a long journey may be climate changedue to which there was less food available, or perhaps search for a couple.
Ekaterina Kalashnikova from the Tanzania Cetacean Research Program notes that this route is “truly impressive and unusual even for this migratory species.” This is likely the longest journey a humpback whale has ever undertaken, Kalashnikova said.
Humpback whales are found in all of the world's oceans and travel vast distances each year on one of the longest migrations of any mammal, moving from the tropics where they breed to feeding grounds in cooler waters.
However, this male's journey was even more impressive as he visited two different humpback whale breeding areas.
One theory is that climate change is reducing the amount of krill that humpback whales feed on. Because of this, they have to travel long distances in search of food. Another theory suggests that whales may be expanding into new breeding grounds as the population recovers, aided by the efforts of conservation organizations.
“Although the actual reasons are unknown, driving forces may include global climate change, extreme environmental events that are occurring more frequently, as well as evolutionary mechanisms of the species,” Kalashnikova says.
The record-breaking male was photographed for the first time with a group of other whales from a research vessel on the Pacific coast of Colombia in 2013.
The same whale off the coast of Zanzibar, photographed in 2022
IN 2017 he again hit the lenses in approximately the same places, and in 2022 he was seen off the coast of Zanzibar. The huge arc between these places extends no less than 13,046 km. Scientists believe that this is the minimum distance that the whale swam, but most likely it is much greater. Biologists report that baby humpback whales whisper to their mothers about danger.
Since the Earth is a sphere, the shortest path between two points is expressed by an arc – the part of the circle on which both points are located. Scientists were able to determine the whale's route using hundreds of thousands of photographs sent to the site happywhale.com researchers, whale watchers and amateur photographers. Using artificial intelligence, scientists match the individual shapes and patterns on the tail fins of humpback whales in this database, allowing them to map their movements around the world.
The study was published in the Royal Society journal Open Science.
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