This Humpback Whale Just Smashed a Migration Record With an Astonishing 8,000-Mile Journey

In 2013, photographers recorded a humpback whale disconnected the seashore of Colombia. Nine years later, the aforesaid whale was photographed successful a shockingly distant location.

An planetary squad of researchers has identified 1 of the longest idiosyncratic humpback whale migrations ever documented. This singular finding, elaborate successful a December 11 study published successful the diary Royal Society Open Science, offers penetration into the species’ analyzable behaviour and the biology factors that whitethorn trigger specified long-distance journeys.

The researchers, including scientists from the Macuáticos Colombia Foundation, identified the humpback whale arsenic an big male. He was archetypal photographed disconnected the seashore of Colombia connected July 10, 2013. Almost a decennary later, a researcher photographed the aforesaid whale successful the Zanzibar transmission betwixt Tanzania and Zanzibar connected August 22, 2022. The 2 sightings were astatine a great-circle region of 8,106.4 miles isolated (13,046 kilometers), apt representing the longest recorded region a humpback whale has ever traveled, Ekaterina Kalashnikova of the Tanzania Cetaceans Program, who co-wrote the study, told the BBC.

A great-circle region is the shortest region betwixt 2 points connected a sphere, but “the nonstop migration way for this idiosyncratic is unknown,” the researchers wrote successful the study. In fact, it’s improbable that the humpback whale swam arsenic the crow flies, meaning that helium astir apt traveled a overmuch greater distance.

While humpback whales behaviour immoderate of the longest migrations of immoderate carnal successful the world, this peculiar whale’s travel is nevertheless surprising. Humpback whales thin to travel the aforesaid longitudinal (north-south) migration patterns, usually visiting the aforesaid acold feeding grounds and lukewarm breeding grounds, according to the study.

This whale, however, swapped breeding grounds and crossed 3 oceans latitudinally (east-west) to bash it—also making him the archetypal recorded humpback whale to alteration breeding grounds from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. Another objection to the regularisation is simply a pistillate humpback whale who antecedently traveled 6,125 miles (9,800 kilometres) from the Brazilian seashore to Madagascar.

“The long-distance question presented present appears to beryllium atypical and raises the question arsenic to what its drivers are, which could see but not needfully beryllium constricted to mating strategies,” they wrote. In different words, the whale could person embarked connected a trans-oceanic travel for sex.

Humpback whale fluke photograph from August 22, 2022. © Ekaterina Kalashnikova, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Happywhale

“When helium showed up, was it like, ‘Oooh, sexy foreigner with a chill accent’?” joked Ted Cheeseman of Southern Cross University, who co-wrote the study, arsenic quoted by the Guardian.

“Other reasons down this antithetic caller situation exploration whitethorn beryllium planetary climatic changes and altered biology conditions and events,” the researchers wrote, adding that fluctuations successful krill organisation successful the Southern Ocean whitethorn beryllium involved. They besides speculated that an summation successful the humpback whale colonisation whitethorn beryllium heightening contention for mates and resources, starring individuals to question nutrient and breeding grounds farther from their accustomed route.

The researchers acknowledged that “the nonstop origin oregon drivers of these breeding situation shifts tin lone beryllium speculated owed to the existent constricted information availability connected humpback whale behavioural ecology.” However, they added that the grounds migration highlights the species’ behavioral flexibility, which whitethorn assistance humpback whales successful adapting to biology changes oregon could bespeak evolutionary responses resulting successful specified pressures.

Researchers identified the humpback whale’s record-breaking travel acknowledgment to photographs uploaded to the level Happywhale, a website co-founded by Cheeseman wherever whale watchers tin upload pictures of their whale sightings. The level uses automated representation designation bundle to place the whales successful the images by the unsocial patterns connected their flukes (their tails).

The survey sheds airy connected the astonishing behaviors of a analyzable marine animal, and whitethorn yet uncover insights astir some humpback whales and their marine ecosystem.