Mega-Facts on Megaptera

Humpback whales are some of the most popular, most celebrated and most studied species of whale on the planet. Here are some fun facts which totally validates all that.

1. Their scientific name is Megaptera noveanglia - meaning "Big-winged from New England". We're very creative.
2. They are a rorqual species of whale. The group is defined by the large grooves on the bottom of mouth, allowing their mouths to open like an accordion.
3. Humpbacks have longest pectoral fin-to-body ration of any whale - up to one third of their body length.
4. Why so long? Long fins allow for graceful manoeuvrability under and over the water
5. They love to breach! Breaching is a fairly common whale behaviour, where the animals throw themselves out of the water and come crashing down. There is no sight more amazing. I had the chance to watch one breach something like ten times in a row - utterly spectacular.
6. The 'humpback' in their name comes from the hump-like dorsal fin on most individuals, as well as small humps along the spine between the dorsal fin and tail.
7. They migrate! In the summer they inhale as much food as possible in cold northern waters, then they head south for the winter mating and breeding season.
8. Humpbacks are probably best known for their mad singing skills! They are the only whales to properly "sing" - in tune and everything! Only males sing though, and only at the winter breeding grounds.
9. Researchers are pretty sure it has something to do with mating (because what isn't, really), but nothing is definitive. Some think it actually has more to do with communicating to other males than with females.
10. In the summer they eat a lot  of krill and small schooling fish (capelin, herring etc.). Unlike some of their relatives, humpbacks aren't really picky eaters!
11. Humpbacks also have one of the coolest ways of catching fish! In a group effort, they'll blow bubbles out of their blowholes to surround and ensnare schools of fish, then swim up through the nets to get a good mouthful of fish. This is called bubble netting, and is crazy to watch!
12. Individuals can be identified using the patterning on the underside of their flukes (tail fins). Each one has a black and white pattern that is unique to an animal. The variation in the amount of white and black is used to ID an animals, as well as the edge of their tail, which have a natural raggedy to them.
13. They're big animals, about the size of a bus. Which seems pretty big, unless you compare them to the other whales in the rorqual family, which includes the blue whale and the fin whale. Now those are big whales!
14. the "moles" or "warts" on their faces are commonly known as tubercules - no one really knows what they are for, but they have little hairs on them, which makes scientists think they are sensory, and might help them with the search for fish.
15. As a big whale species, they used to be a target of the whaling industry. While whaling of humpbacks is banned in most places, some countries still hunt them, but in very small, highly managed quantities

So there you go! Some things to keep you interested in an interesting species of cetacean!