Living species
Humpback whale
Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)
Taxonomy
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Chordata
- class
- Mammalia
- order
- Cetacea
- family
- Balaenopteridae
- genus
- Megaptera
- species
- Megaptera novaeangliae
Where and when
- Range
- Oceans worldwide
- Habitat
- Oceans worldwide, migrating between cold-water feeding grounds and warm breeding waters.
- Lived
- Living today
Facts
Trait: Known for spectacular full-body leaps clear out of the water, called breaching.
SourceVocalization: Males produce long, complex songs that can last over 30 minutes and change from year to year.
SourceDiet: Sometimes hunts in groups by blowing rings of bubbles to corral schools of fish.
SourceTrait: Has unusually long, wing-like flippers compared to other large whales.
SourceMovement: Undertakes one of the longest migrations of any mammal, between polar feeding grounds and tropical breeding waters.
SourceSize: Can weigh as much as several elephants combined, despite feeding on some of the ocean's smallest prey.
Source