HUMPBACK WHALESMegaptera novaeangliae

Facts

• adults range in length from 12–16 metres (39–52 ft) and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 lb)

• The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head

Habitat

• Can be found in most major oceans, although can be found prominently around the pacific ocean and most of the United States.

• Migrate toward the equator from summer feeding grounds closer to the poles to mate.

Threats of extinction

• the humpback was and is a target for the whaling industry. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, its population fell by an estimated 90% before a moratorium was introduced in 1966.

• While stocks have since partially recovered, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution continue to impact the 80,000 humpbacks worldwide.

Ways to help

• Groups are attempting to help bring attention to he fact of excessive noise can in fact severely damage or even kill these whales, with underwater drilling and bombing being causes of death for whales.

Why its important

• Humpback whales eat krill and other small organisms, which in turn eat algae, if the whales die off then the krill will explode destroying the resources of algae before moving over to other plants destroying a staple food for other aquatic species.