How Do Humpback Whales Hunt?
Dec 5th, 2021
Humpback Whales make a beautiful circular dance in the water while blowing bubbles to catch their food. The Humpback Whale is a species of Baleen Whale. The adult is ranging in length from 12-16m and weighing around 25-30t. They cooperate to harvest fish in polar water from May to September in order to store enough fat to get through winter breeding season. Humpback Whales use an ingenious fishing way, called bubble net feeding. Their magical hunting way can be divided into several steps to see their extraordinary level of intelligence and cooperation of hunting.
First of all, a leading whale dives and tries to find the fish. The Humpback Whale is one of the largest marine mammals in the world; however, these huge mammals have baleen but not teeth. They can only eat small creatures like squid, krill, and herring. As a result, the leading whale has a responsibility to locate a large school of prey to satisfy peers’ hunger.
Next, once the leading whale has located the target shoal, it starts to blow bubbles and make a hunting call calling for the peers. The leader dives beneath the school of fish and starts to blow a net of bubbles to encircle the prey. This bubble net acts as a barrier preventing fish from escaping. At the same time, a sound is released by the leader calling for other members to join the hunting process.
Third, every whale takes their position to make eerie sounds and blow bubble net to herd the fish together. They emit high pitch sounds to scare fish. Moreover, by blowing and circling together, the fish cannot swim through the fizzing curtain. While the bubbles
floating up, the fish are concentrated to the surface of water. through the eerie sounds and bubble net, they make fish together and get ready to pig out.
In the end, Humpback whales gulp down a school of fish by lunge-feeding. The whales dive below the school of fish, and once the leading whale emits the signal, all the whales burst through the water surface rapidly with mouths open to eat anything in their path. After gorging themselves, they drain the water from their baleen and keep tons of fish in their mouths.
In the summer feeding period, Humpback whales work together for at least 20 hours every day to capture prey by using bubble net feeding. This unique hunting process includes locating the target by a leading whale, calling for team up while blowing bubbles, blowing bubble net, and
