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Humpback Whales
A humpback whale breaches Pictures of humpback whales A humpback whale feeds on herring

NATURE's HUMPBACK WHALES follows these migrating marine mammals and presents their unique singing and hunting habits.

Video Clip Graceful and magnificent, humpback whales inspire awe in young and old alike. These marine mammals travel great distances to take advantage of the best breeding grounds and feeding spots. North Pacific humpbacks, for example, mate and give birth in Hawaii and then travel to Alaska each summer to feed.

These gentle giants are famous for their singing abilities -- belting out seductive ballads to attract mates or to challenge other would-be suitors. But they also have other talents. Their unique hunting skill, called bubblenet feeding, involves a group of humpbacks working together to capture schools of herring. Each whale has a particular role in the process: One whale swims in a circle while blowing bubbles under a school of herring. When the bubbles rise, the school of herring can not escape and form into a tight ball in the center. Other whales vocalize -- grunting or screaming -- to scare the herring to the surface. The whales then rise with their mouths wide open to capture large amounts of fish.

Trek across the oceans with these astounding creatures and discover more revealing details about their wonder-filled, watery ways.


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View the Production Credits.

A humpback spyhops
The Curious Humpback
Spyhopping and other habits.
A humpback breaches
Song of the Sea
Why do humpback whales sing?
A group of whales feed
Whale Tales
Discover big and little whale facts.
A humpback mother and calf
Resources
Web sites and books on humpbacks.
Printe-mail

56 T1 RealPlayer A humpback mother and calf A humpback's head is covered with tubercles A humpback feeds on herring