How do female Humpbacks flirt? The northern Humpback migration is the perfect time to witness examples of flirty Humpback behaviour as this morning we watched as a young female breached continuously for over one hour! She was only young and in her early to late teens so we watched with great interest to see just how this female Humpback was going to get the attention of the boys. The display began with breaching, head lunging, fluke slapping and a couple of pec slaps for good measure. She received the response she was looking for as the four other pods around returned the conversation with some surface activity of their own. Having captured the attention of a few big males she took off and began to breach her way across Flinders Bay. Female Humpbacks will display loud surface activity, often incorporating flirty behaviours such as breaching and pec slapping to gain the attention of nearby males and encourage their approach. For this young female today she was getting the boys attention but most of them were already travelling with a female so it was hard to get them to follow her. She persisted and continued breach after spectacular breach for over an hour, an incredible display.
The males continued to stick with their females though so she slightly changed tactic and began to breach directly towards each of these pods, insisting on getting their attention! A young female like this may not be ready to mate just yet, so she is not giving off the right “vibes” for the males around her at this stage. These males will stay with the females they are travelling with for now, increasing their chances of mating. When she is ready to mate this female will certainly have the attention of any nearby male whose entire focus will be on her, for now it seems she is just looking for a companion. The males have a few more options available to them this time of the season so can afford to be slightly picky with their decisions but as the season progresses and more females fall pregnant there will be fewer opportunities for the males. Today was the perfect example of how do female Humpbacks flirt and we wish this lovely lady well in her quest.
