Peduncle Throw
Aloha,
We had a lot of fun on the only Whale Watch Cruise we operated on Wednesday — our Signature Whale Watch. Guests aboard got to spend some time with a competitive pod of 3 whales. As the Humpbacks charged around on the surface, we heard lots of trumpeting blows (basically, the sounds whales make when they’re trying to catch their breath), and got to see multiple tail lobs, lots of peduncle throws and even a partial breach.
In year’s past, we’ve noticed the same kinds of activities from the last mature Humpbacks around the islands in Spring. Since these mature Humpbacks visit Hawaii to “meet and mingle”, and since every day there are fewer and fewer available and receptive Humpbacks around, the remaining whales must be feeling some real desperation to mate!
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: We saw several peduncle throws today…and I can’t remember if I’ve actually defined the term “peduncle” for you. We call the region between the whales’ flukes and his main body, a “peduncle”…but why? So I looked it up. The word “peduncle” comes from the Latin word “ped” which means foot. It was first used to describe the stalk of a flower, fruit, or tumor. I guess that makes sense…the back part of the whale does sort of look like a stalk, bearing the whale’s wide flukes