WEBVTT - How Do Humpback Whales Work?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.360
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:11.600
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Volga Baum here. Known for their mystical songs,

0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:15.920
<v Speaker 1>global travel, and impressive gymnastics, pumpback whales are one of

0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:20.520
<v Speaker 1>the ocean's most captivating and complex giants. While they aren't

0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.640
<v Speaker 1>as big as the blue whale, which is the largest

0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.440
<v Speaker 1>animal on the planet, pumpback whales are still quite the whoppers,

0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.800
<v Speaker 1>growing up to sixty feet that's over eighteen meters long

0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.360
<v Speaker 1>and weighing up to forty tons that's about the length

0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.479
<v Speaker 1>of a city bus but the weight of two. The

0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:41.200
<v Speaker 1>hump that forms under their small dorsal fin when they breach,

0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.239
<v Speaker 1>that is, when they throw apart or all of their

0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.560
<v Speaker 1>bodies out of the water, gives them their recognizable name.

0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:52.080
<v Speaker 1>They have a uniquely huge tail and pectoral fins. Their

0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.400
<v Speaker 1>backside is black, and their underbelly is a varying mix

0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.800
<v Speaker 1>of both black and white. What appear from a distance

0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:03.560
<v Speaker 1>to be decorative lines on their underside are actually ventral plates.

0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.680
<v Speaker 1>These plates fold open and allow the whale's throat cavity

0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.760
<v Speaker 1>to expand, so they can scoop up copious amounts of

0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:14.280
<v Speaker 1>water and thus their prey. When they feed Humpback whales

0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.760
<v Speaker 1>are one of fourteen species of bailen whales, type of

0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.000
<v Speaker 1>whale that has balan plates instead of teeth. Balan plates

0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:26.160
<v Speaker 1>are long, thick, bristly fibers made of keratin attached to

0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.319
<v Speaker 1>their upper jaw. These are useful because, despite the whale's

0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.600
<v Speaker 1>massive size, humpbacks like to show down on much smaller

0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:38.640
<v Speaker 1>sea creatures like plankton, krill, anchovies, and cod. They gulp

0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.560
<v Speaker 1>in enough water to fill a swimming pool, and then

0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.279
<v Speaker 1>when they expel it, the baileean plates filter in those

0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.360
<v Speaker 1>tiny tasty creatures. Also, if you've ever heard of whale

0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.960
<v Speaker 1>bone used in vintage corsetry, these are the whale bones

0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:58.400
<v Speaker 1>in question if you're imagining a diver getting scooped up

0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.600
<v Speaker 1>in all that water. Never year, though these whales are

0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.520
<v Speaker 1>a lot bigger than us, they're not built to swallow

0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:08.600
<v Speaker 1>us sized animals. While there esophagus thus stretch a little

0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.360
<v Speaker 1>when they swallow a meal, their throat and those of

0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.639
<v Speaker 1>most whale species, isn't any wider than a human fist,

0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:17.440
<v Speaker 1>and if you ended up in their mouth by mistake,

0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:21.040
<v Speaker 1>you would promptly be spit out, which has happened before.

0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.120
<v Speaker 1>And the divers have lived to tell the tale. Humpback

0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.720
<v Speaker 1>whales can be found in all oceans around the globe,

0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.760
<v Speaker 1>in part due to having one of the longest migration

0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.800
<v Speaker 1>patterns of all mammals. Humpback populations spend part of the

0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.280
<v Speaker 1>year feeding and fattening up in colder waters, and then

0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.120
<v Speaker 1>head to tropical or subtropical oceans to focus on mating.

0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.160
<v Speaker 1>Females generally produce a single calf every two to three

0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.240
<v Speaker 1>years on average, which might not seem like much, but

0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.959
<v Speaker 1>those calves will live for approximately eighty to ninety years.

0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.080
<v Speaker 1>Humpback whales tend to live close to shore, and since

0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.280
<v Speaker 1>they often slap the water and reach the surface, they're

0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:06.160
<v Speaker 1>a frequent and awe inspiring site for whale watchers. For

0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.600
<v Speaker 1>the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Work.

0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.200
<v Speaker 1>Spoke by email with Ed Lyman, a natural resource management

0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:16.600
<v Speaker 1>specialist at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:21.120
<v Speaker 1>He explained that scientists believe these acrobatics likely serve more

0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.480
<v Speaker 1>than one purpose. A quote. First, it may be a

0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:28.040
<v Speaker 1>grooming or cleaning mechanism. You throw all or most of

0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.560
<v Speaker 1>forty tons in the case of a typical adult humpback

0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:32.799
<v Speaker 1>whale of your body out of the water and come

0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:37.520
<v Speaker 1>crashing back down. You're very likely to remove loose skin parasites,

0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:42.440
<v Speaker 1>and in general, any biofouling. Doing so reduces drag and

0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:47.360
<v Speaker 1>helps maintain the animals hydrodynamic form. It reduces your energy budget.

0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.800
<v Speaker 1>Other possibilities include the movement and or the sound of

0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.960
<v Speaker 1>the splash as a means of communication, as displays of

0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:59.440
<v Speaker 1>aggression or competitiveness, or as a come hither during breeding displays,

0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.200
<v Speaker 1>but Lyman said it may just be fun. When we

0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.640
<v Speaker 1>seek halves breaching and sanctuary waters, we tend to lean

0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.200
<v Speaker 1>toward this interpretation, though this applies to adults as well.

0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:18.560
<v Speaker 1>Humpbacks are master communicators. The males compose grunts and wines

0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.960
<v Speaker 1>and the complex songs that travel great distances under water.

0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.160
<v Speaker 1>Researchers are still debating the exact purpose of the music,

0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.520
<v Speaker 1>though it's generally thought to be part of mating displays,

0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.680
<v Speaker 1>as more tends to happen during breeding season. How Stuff

0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.240
<v Speaker 1>Works also spoke by email with Mark Lammer's PhD, a

0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.280
<v Speaker 1>research ecologist who is also with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback

0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.640
<v Speaker 1>Whale National Marine Sanctuary. He says the biggest question is

0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.880
<v Speaker 1>who exactly the males are serenading. While it's possible that

0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.520
<v Speaker 1>females choose their mates based on these songs, there's little

0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.960
<v Speaker 1>evidence of that so far. Quote there's more behavioral evidence

0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.880
<v Speaker 1>to suggest that other males pay close attention to the

0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.719
<v Speaker 1>singing of their competitors. As a result, several researchers myself included,

0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.760
<v Speaker 1>believe that song may help to mediate male male interactions

0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.320
<v Speaker 1>by potentially communicating the competitive fitness of a singer to

0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:18.159
<v Speaker 1>potential competitors. Males within each population sing the same song

0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.120
<v Speaker 1>with room for improvisation, but just as we humans have

0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:27.000
<v Speaker 1>different voice characteristics, so do whales. Lambers said. It's that

0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:31.279
<v Speaker 1>individual variability that may carry important information about a male's

0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.800
<v Speaker 1>fitness and therefore its ability to compete for a female

0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.240
<v Speaker 1>that other males and possibly females may be listening for.

0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.960
<v Speaker 1>Due to centuries of intense commercial whaling, the entire humpback

0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:48.680
<v Speaker 1>population was listed as endangered in nineteen seventy, but things

0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:53.000
<v Speaker 1>started looking up in when the International Whaling Commission's final

0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:57.839
<v Speaker 1>whaling moratorium on commercial harvest took effect. Today, they still

0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.880
<v Speaker 1>sometimes get caught in fishing gear or collide with boats,

0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.599
<v Speaker 1>but their population is thankfully increasing. Only four out of

0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:11.200
<v Speaker 1>fourteen distinct populations are still listed as endangered. With continued conservation,

0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.440
<v Speaker 1>these gentle giants will continue to sing, splash about, and

0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:23.640
<v Speaker 1>amaze us all. Today's episode is based on the article

0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.880
<v Speaker 1>Pumpback whales have made an amazing comeback from extinction on

0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.320
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot Com, written by Katie Carmen. Brain

0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.560
<v Speaker 1>Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership with

0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.160
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.

0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.880
<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,

0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.919
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.