Humpback Calf Just Below the Surface – Image courtesy of Caroline Fye
Aloha,
Boy did we have fun on Thursday’s Mid-Morning Whale Watch Cruise! After kind of a slow start to the trip, we came across a sub-adult Humpback. While we were watching him, a Mom and calf ventured our way. Our calf was on the surface a lot, so we turned off our engines to watch him — and took advantage of the quiet to deploy the hydrophone. We heard lots of great Humpback voices, but we couldn’t take our eyes off that little calf. Eventually, a pod of Spinner Dolphins swam over, and before we knew it, they were interacting with the calf too. All the dolphin energy must have gotten to our baby whale, because he started flailing around on the surface. We watched that little calf for a good 45 minutes, and even got a glimpse of the underside of his flukes (and that hardly ever happens)!
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers off the coast of Brazil have discovered that some marine mammals including Humpbacks may have up to 14 spleens. Among other functions, the spleen stores red blood cells (which store oxygen)…so an extra spleen may help a deep diving animal stay underwater longer. These spleens can contract during a dive releasing fresh blood with oxygenated red blood cells to keep the whale’s important organs alive and functioning. 14 spleens?! Amazing.