Feeding and Location

Humpback whales eat krill and prawn that are the size of a thumb. The whale takes in food with great amounts of water. Instead of teeth they have horny baleen sometimes known as whale bone to take food through.

The whales live in sub-tropical coastal waters of western and eastern Australia and Fiji then migrate to Antarctica to stay. 

                     The Life Cycle 

1. The first stage of the life cycle is the fighting. The male humpback will fight another male for a female. They lunge at each other with their heads or hit each other with their flukes (that is on their tail).

2. Once the female has found her mate she will mate. The mating only takes a few seconds. The male swims under the female. 3.The whale takes birth in the warmer waters in the winter. The female is pregnant for 10-12 months. 4. The whale will have 1 calf every year. Unlike other mammals the baby humpback is born tail first. The birth is short because the baby must get to the surface to breath. The mother pushes the calf up to the surface for it's first breath. 5. Two years after the birth the

 whale will migrate to Antarctica.

                The Skeleton 

The skeleton of the whale.

The whales spine does not move so the whale can't turn it's neck or head. The whales don't have back legs but have remains of the pelvis. The whales ribs are very delicate and are not firmly attached to the spine or the breast bone. 

                      FACTS

• The whale has such a big tail you wouldn't be-able to fit it in your bedroom.

• Humpback whales have a big pleated throat with baleen plates to filter their food.

•  With long outstretched flippers it lifts it self out of the water into the air.

• More than three thousand and five hundred have been identified by photos of their tails and flukes.

• They travel thousands of kilometres each year from the sub-tropical to the Antarctica.

• Whales spend most of their time alone or with their calf meeting in groups of 15 individuals in feeding and mating areas. 

      KILLING THE WHALE

Eskimos, Americans, Indians and Japanese eat whale meat before Europeans started whaling. The Europeans didn't use the whales for food, they used them for different products. They made fortunes from blubber and baleen. The Eskimos used skin and bone to build homes. Intestines were blown up for harpoon flouts. One big right whale can make 2 tons of whale bone and 25 for oil.

The first attempts of saving whales was when the whalers realized  themselves, that some species were nearly extinct. It was hard to find a Humpback, Blue, Right or Sperm whale to hunt. Today, countries all over the world, except Japan, have stopped hunting whales.

The whales have very good hearing.  Whales make sounds to   find objects in the water. The sound travels in things called sound waves they hit the object and bounce back at the whale in echoes. This is called echo Location. This helps the whales from bumping into rocks and other objects. The sounds whales use for this process is different to the sounds they use for communication. Whales make many different sounds. Dolphins make a whistling type of a sound, Humpback whales make patterns of noises, Bowhead whales make a low moaning sound and Sperm whales make a clicking noise.

                         QUIZ!

1. What do whales eat?

2. What is their habitat?

3. What noises do they make?

4. What is their average weight?

5. Why are their intestines blown up for?

6. In other words what are their teeth called?

7. Can whales turn their head?

Word Search - Can you find these words?

1.whales 2. prawn 3. tail 4. krill 5.baleen 6.harpoon 7.humpback 8

barnicals 9. blowhole 10.mammal