Author Archive | Micah Jenner

Sep 10, 2014 Surface active behaviour on the breeding grounds includes pectoral fin slapping.  As this whale rolled to lay at the surface, the broad pectoral fin hitting the water surface made a huge splash and sound aerially, as well as underwater. Another rolling pass near Whale Song showed the area around the eye of […]

Sep 09, 2014 The Power of a Peduncle Slap!  Forty tonnes of humpback whale being lifted and thrown sideways on the water adds an impressive percussive component to cetacean interactions and is quite the statement, especially if you are another humpback whale on the receiving end!  The caudal peduncle, the strong muscular area between the […]

Sep 08, 2014 What a treat to see the next generation of humpback whales!  Little calves, born at 5 m long and weighing 1.5 tonnes surge and bob through the water next to mum as they make their way through each day.  Around the clock, in daylight and under starlight, calves learn new behaviours to […]

Sep 07, 2014 It’s maintenance time again!  The whales are checking us out!  During this last expedition, on several occasions humpback whales came close to Whale Song, swimming up and down and around again!  While the vessels’ motor was in neutral, pairs of whales often appeared to investigate our good ship, coming very close.  Are […]

Sep 06, 2014 Large pods of rowdy competitive males battle it out on a grand scale for available females during the breeding season.  Forty tonnes of bone and blubber physically contacting with other whales becomes a boisterous event and quite a sight to behold.  Pectoral fin slapping, tail swishing, peduncle slapping and even breaching on […]

Sep 05, 2014 Back in the beautiful green water of the Kimberley again, we were thrilled to continue humpback whale photo-identification research which we began in 1990 in WA.  Each humpback whale has unique black and white markings on the underside of their tail flukes – just like our fingerprints.  Note the very identifiable white […]

Sep 04, 2014 Spinner dolphins with their beautiful fine bodies, are the “ballerinas” of the dolphin world.  Their strong and agile bodies twist and twirl on a dime, dancing on Whale Song’s bow.