Language of the Humpback Whale

Witnessing the Language of the Humpback Whale at its most spectacular today as a mother Humpback taught her calf how to communicate. Firstly meeting this pod quietly resting in the calmness of the morning conditions, the calf appeared to enjoy a feed of milk from mum who was sleeping away on the surface and both had the typical feeding formation of the letter T. Disappearing below the surface for a few minutes we watched on to await the next sleepy re-surfacing when suddenly the ocean leapt to life… literally! The female Humpback launched into enormous body lunges as her calf quickly joined and both created a most spectacular surface display. Mother and calf worked as a team to make a lot of noise as head lunge after head lunge was repeated. Something had startled them, perhaps a small shark in the area had been lingering around and mum had enough of the cheeky persistence of an opportunistic hunter. 

Surface activity completed, both mother and calf swam towards us and we moved as one out of the area. It is incredible to sight the Language of the Humpback Whale and the importance surface activity plays in the way our whales communicate to the world around them. Noise being their main sense means it is vitally important that calves understand what results from certain surface behaviours and when to use them. Travelling for a little while, mother Humpback eventually found an area she was happy with and both decided to finalise their morning with a little more practice. Calf breaching and mum tail lobbing completed the days school lessons and we were privileged to have joined in on the class, thank you mumma Humpback!

Download Photos Here