---
title: "What the sources say about the Humpback Whale | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "54 claims from the Humpback Whale profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/humpback-whale-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/humpback-whale/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Humpback Whale (*Megaptera novaeangliae*)

> 54 claims from the Humpback Whale profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Humpback Whale](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/humpback-whale/)

## Megaptera novaeangliae (humpback whale). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Megaptera_novaeangliae/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Hunting With Rings of Bubbles | Bubble columns are formed as a humpback swims underwater in a broad circle while exhaling. An individual column may form rows, semicircles, or complete circles. These circles act like a seive net, concentrating or herding the prey. (note: heading: the rings are the circles bubble columns can form) |
| Animal Diversity Web lists five main feeding tricks | Humpbacks have five main feeding behaviors (the first three are more commonly observed than the last two): |
| the whale swims a circle at the surface, slapping the water with its flukes so foam surrounds its prey, then dives beneath the ring and surfaces in the center, mouth open | Ring of foam. Humpbacks have an elaborate feeding behavior in which they lie on the ocean's surface and swim in a circle. While doing so, they strike the water with their flukes forming a "ring of foam," which surrounds their prey. Then, they dive under the ring and resurface in the center with mouth open, allowing them to capture the prey within the ring. (note: reviewer: cut 'tight', 'wall of foam', 'fish or krill' and 'burst up', none in the source) |
| Underwater, it can also blow "bubble clouds" or "bubble columns" | When these whales use underwater exhalation to create bubble clouds and bubble columns. (note: same words in the body and FAQ 1; reviewer cut 'spiral', which the source never uses (columns form rows, semicircles or circles)) |
| the columns can form rings that act like a sieve net, herding or concentrating prey | Bubble columns are formed as a humpback swims underwater in a broad circle while exhaling. An individual column may form rows, semicircles, or complete circles. These circles act like a seive net, concentrating or herding the prey. (note: same words in the body and FAQ 1; 'can form rings' restores the source's 'may form ... complete circles', and it is the circles that act as the net; 'seive' corrected to 'sieve', a spelling fix only) |
| Typically it gulps food and water together, its throat grooves expanding to hold large volumes, then shuts its mouth and presses the water out, leaving the food caught in its baleen plates | Typically, these whales take both food and water into their mouths. Large volumes can be accomodated because the ventral grooves in the throat allow for expansion. Once the mouth is full, it is closed and the water is pressed out. Meanwhile, the food is caught in the baleen plates and is then swallowed. |
| Flippers, Flukes and a Hump | The most distictive external features of humpbacks are the flipper size and form, fluke coloration and shape, and dorsal fin shape. (note: heading; replaces 'A Body Built Around Its Flippers', which no source says) |
| The flippers are a giveaway: they can reach almost a third of the whale's total body length and are largely white, with knobs along the leading edge | The most distictive external features of humpbacks are the flipper size and form, fluke coloration and shape, and dorsal fin shape. Flippers are quite long and can be almost a third of the body length. They are largely white and have knobs on the leading edge. (note: reviewer restored 'can', and 'studded with' became 'with') |
| Its tail flukes carry distinctive gray-and-white patterns with a scalloped trailing edge | The butterfly-shaped tail flukes bear individually distinctive patterns of gray and white, and have a scalloped trailing edge. |
| Its dorsal fin often has a stepped or humped shape, one source of the name "humpback" | The dorsal fin can be a small triangle or sharply falcate, and often has a stepped or humped shape; this is one source of the name "humpback." |
| another is its habit of rounding its back as it dives | The common name "humpback" also comes from the animal's tendency to round its back when diving. |
| Females grow larger than males | Humpback females are larger than males. (note: final review (2026-09): "Oddly for a mammal" cut; ADW's "one of the few species of mammals" is a side comparison, and female-larger size is not rare among whales) |
| Humpbacks have few predators besides humans | Humpback whales have few predators other than humans. (note: reviewer: replaces 'Grown humpbacks have almost no natural predators'; the source says nothing about age) |
| killer whales sometimes harass and perhaps kill them, and sharks feed on their carcasses | They are sometimes harassed, perhaps killed, by killer whales, and sharks feed on their dead bodies. |
| A mother and calf may be accompanied by "escort" whales, believed to be mostly males, which turn aggressive toward other humpbacks that approach and sometimes blow bubbles as an apparent screen | "Escort" whales within a group may accompany whale-calf pairs. They become aggressive towards other humpbacks approaching the groups. They sometimes blow bubbles from their blow holes or mouths as an apparent "screen." It is believed that most "escorts" are males. (note: reviewer: replaces 'Calves get extra protection from', a purpose the source never states; restores 'may accompany' and 'apparent') |
| Lobtail feeding, which combines a tail slap with bubble feeding | At times, humpbacks combine some of these methods, for example, combining bubble feeding and tail slapping (lobtailing), as they feed on sand lance. (note: 'some' refers to 'some of these methods', not a hedge on the combination) |
| The bubble-ring hunter | Bubble columns are formed as a humpback swims underwater in a broad circle while exhaling. An individual column may form rows, semicircles, or complete circles. These circles act like a seive net, concentrating or herding the prey. (note: tagline) |
| Five main feeding moves, including a "ring of foam" that surrounds prey before the whale dives under it and surfaces in the center, mouth open | Humpbacks have five main feeding behaviors (the first three are more commonly observed than the last two): ... Ring of foam. Humpbacks have an elaborate feeding behavior in which they lie on the ocean's surface and swim in a circle. While doing so, they strike the water with their flukes forming a "ring of foam," which surrounds their prey. Then, they dive under the ring and resurface in the center with mouth open, allowing them to capture the prey within the ring. (note: stats.superpower; 'before' is the source's own 'Then'. Reviewer cut 'bubble and tail-slap toolkit' (lunging is neither), 'spiraling' (the source says a circle), 'traps fish' and 'bursts up') |
| Animal Diversity Web describes five main tricks | Humpbacks have five main feeding behaviors (the first three are more commonly observed than the last two): |
| In the "ring of foam" move, a whale swims a circle at the surface, slapping the water with its flukes so foam surrounds its prey, then dives underneath and surfaces in the middle with its mouth open | Ring of foam. Humpbacks have an elaborate feeding behavior in which they lie on the ocean's surface and swim in a circle. While doing so, they strike the water with their flukes forming a "ring of foam," which surrounds their prey. Then, they dive under the ring and resurface in the center with mouth open, allowing them to capture the prey within the ring. (note: reviewer cut 'tight', 'wall of foam', 'a patch of' and 'bursts up') |
| Big enough to be its trademark | The most distictive external features of humpbacks are the flipper size and form, fluke coloration and shape, and dorsal fin shape. Flippers are quite long and can be almost a third of the body length. |
| A humpback's pectoral flippers can stretch almost a third of its total body length, and they are largely white with knobs along the leading edge | Flippers are quite long and can be almost a third of the body length. They are largely white and have knobs on the leading edge. |
| Its tail flukes stand out too, with individually distinctive patterns of gray and white and a scalloped trailing edge | The most distictive external features of humpbacks are the flipper size and form, fluke coloration and shape, and dorsal fin shape. ... The butterfly-shaped tail flukes bear individually distinctive patterns of gray and white, and have a scalloped trailing edge. (note: reviewer: replaces 'just as distinctive', a comparison the source never makes; it lists flukes among the most distinctive features) |
| Lobtail feeding combines a tail slap with bubble feeding | At times, humpbacks combine some of these methods, for example, combining bubble feeding and tail slapping (lobtailing), as they feed on sand lance. (note: reviewer split this from the 27-year claim: network-2013 never says what lobtail feeding is) |
| Krill, herring, sand lance, capelin | the North Pacific and the Bering Sea eat euphausiids (krill), mackerel, sand lance, Ammodytes americanus, capelin and herring. (note: stats.diet) |

## Whale. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/whale

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Lone males sing the famous songs during the winter mating season, the San Diego Zoo says | Single male humpback whales make their famous whale songs during the winter mating season. (note: 'lone' paraphrases 'single'; reviewer cut 'Only males sing', an absolute no source states (songs-1971 says the singer's sex was then unknown)) |
| Lone males sing the famous songs during the winter mating season, according to the San Diego Zoo | Single male humpback whales make their famous whale songs during the winter mating season. (note: reviewer: replaces 'Only males sing, and only during the winter mating season'; the source gives neither 'only') |

## Cooke (2018). Megaptera novaeangliae. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T13006A50362794.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-2.rlts.t13006a50362794.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the IUCN Red List rates it Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: reviewer cut '2018 assessment': the readout is today's category from GBIF's copy of the Red List, and the year was only in the citation) |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |

## Payne & McVay (1971). Songs of Humpback Whales: Humpbacks emit sounds in long, predictable patterns ranging over frequencies audible to humans. Science.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.173.3997.585

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Payne and McVay's 1971 study described each song as a series of sounds lasting 7 to 30 minutes, repeated with considerable precision and no obvious pause between songs, so a session can run for several hours | Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) produce a series of beautiful and varied sounds for a period of 7 to 30 minutes and then repeat the same series with considerable precision. ... Songs are repeated without any obvious pause between them; thus song sessions may continue for several hours. (note: '1971' is the reference's year; 'so' is the abstract's own 'thus'. Reviewer cut 'with such precision that each whale keeps its own song type', a link the abstract never makes, which also contradicted dynamic-2011's newer 'All males within a population conform to the current version') |
| A whale sings its themes in the same order song after song, in sessions that can run for several hours: the same long-form repetition post-rock is built on | Songs are repeated without any obvious pause between them; thus song sessions may continue for several hours. ... The sequence of themes in successive songs by the same individual is the same. (note: vibe.reason; the post-rock half is the genre comparison, not a whale claim. Reviewer: the sessions run for hours, not the songs (7 to 30 minutes), and the order holds for the same individual) |

## Garland et al. (2011). Dynamic Horizontal Cultural Transmission of Humpback Whale Song at the Ocean Basin Scale. Current Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.019

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A Song That Spreads Like a Trend | multiple song types spread rapidly and repeatedly in a unidirectional manner, like cultural ripples (note: blockquote lead-in; 'trend' glosses 'cultural ripples') |
| Researchers tracking populations across the western and central South Pacific found new song versions moving eastward from one population to the next, again and again, over 11 years: the whale version of a hit song | we present a striking pattern of horizontal transmission: multiple song types spread rapidly and repeatedly in a unidirectional manner, like cultural ripples, eastward through the populations in the western and central South Pacific over an 11-year period (note: reviewer restored 'western and central' and cut 'travelling all the way across an ocean basin': the abstract covers the western and central South Pacific only, and the title phrase was not in the readable text) |
| whose songs ripple from one population to the next | multiple song types spread rapidly and repeatedly in a unidirectional manner, like cultural ripples, eastward through the populations in the western and central South Pacific over an 11-year period (note: tagline; reviewer cut 'across whole ocean basins': one study, one basin, and only its western and central part) |
| Every male in a population sings the same evolving version of the song at a given time | Male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have a highly stereotyped, repetitive, and progressively evolving vocal sexual display or "song" that functions in sexual selection (through mate attraction and/or male social sorting). All males within a population conform to the current version of the display (song type) |
| researchers tracking populations across the western and central South Pacific found new versions spreading eastward from one population to the next over 11 years | multiple song types spread rapidly and repeatedly in a unidirectional manner, like cultural ripples, eastward through the populations in the western and central South Pacific over an 11-year period (note: reviewer restored 'western and central' and cut 'all the way across an ocean basin') |

## Suzuki, Buck & Tyack (2006). Information entropy of humpback whale songs. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2161827

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A later analysis found strong rules, a kind of syntax, shaping the song, with patterns that recur every 6 to 8 sound units and again every 180 to 400 | There is a strong structural constraint, or syntax, in the generation of the songs, and (2) the structural constraints exhibit periodicities with periods of 6-8 and 180-400 units. (note: 'recur every' paraphrases 'periodicities with periods of'. Reviewer cut 'governing which sound could follow another' and 'too consistent to be chance': the source's point is that no Markov (next-sound) model can represent the structure, not that it is non-random) |

## Allen et al. (2013). Network-Based Diffusion Analysis Reveals Cultural Transmission of Lobtail Feeding in Humpback Whales. Science.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1231976

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Songs are not the only tradition humpbacks keep | Our results, coupled with existing knowledge about song traditions, show that this species can maintain multiple independently evolving traditions in its populations. (note: reviewer: replaces 'Hunting habits spread the same way'; lobtail feeding spread within one population, songs between populations) |
| spread through a population of humpback whales over a period of 27 years; the evidence for models with social learning was 6 to 23 orders of magnitude stronger than for models without it, meaning the trick passed whale to whale | We used network-based diffusion analysis to reveal the cultural spread of a naturally occurring foraging innovation, lobtail feeding, through a population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) over a period of 27 years. Support for models with a social transmission component was 6 to 23 orders of magnitude greater than for models without. (note: 'evidence ... stronger' for 'support ... greater'; reviewer cut 'fit the data ... better', a different statistical claim) |
| Whale Culture: Songs and Habits That Spread | We used network-based diffusion analysis to reveal the cultural spread of a naturally occurring foraging innovation, lobtail feeding, ... Our results, coupled with existing knowledge about song traditions, show that this species can maintain multiple independently evolving traditions in its populations. (note: heading) |
| it spread through a population of humpback whales over a period of 27 years | We used network-based diffusion analysis to reveal the cultural spread of a naturally occurring foraging innovation, lobtail feeding, through a population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) over a period of 27 years. |
| Researchers modeled its spread and found the evidence for models built around social learning between whales was 6 to 23 orders of magnitude stronger than for models without it, meaning whales were picking up the trick from each other | We used network-based diffusion analysis to reveal the cultural spread of a naturally occurring foraging innovation, lobtail feeding, through a population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) over a period of 27 years. Support for models with a social transmission component was 6 to 23 orders of magnitude greater than for models without. (note: reviewer cut 'the sightings' (the abstract never names the data), 'fit the pattern ... better', and 'rather than each inventing it alone' (sand lance distribution also predicted uptake)) |

## Humpback Whale. NOAA Fisheries.

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/humpback-whale

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| herds, corrals and confuses its prey, and its methods can include bubbles, sounds, the seafloor and even its flippers | They use several techniques to help them herd, corral, and disorient prey and that can include using bubbles, sounds, the seafloor, and even their pectoral fins. (note: reviewer: replaces 'does not so much chase its food as trap it', a contrast no source draws; 'confuses' for 'disorient', 'flippers' for 'pectoral fins') |
| It can grow to about 60 feet long | Length Up to about 60 feet (note: NOAA Fisheries Quick Facts box) |
| weigh up to about 40 tons, according to NOAA Fisheries | Weight Up to about 40 tons (note: NOAA Fisheries Quick Facts box; reviewer restored 'about') |
| NOAA Fisheries puts its lifespan at about 80 to 90 years | Lifespan About 80 to 90 years (note: NOAA Fisheries Quick Facts box; reviewer cut 'wild', which the box does not say) |
| Humans have been the real danger | Before a final moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985, all populations of humpback whales were greatly reduced, most by more than 95 percent. |
| before a final moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985, all humpback populations were greatly reduced, most by more than 95 percent | Before a final moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985, all populations of humpback whales were greatly reduced, most by more than 95 percent. (note: final review (2026-09): replaces ADW's "more than 60,000 ... between 1910 to 1916", a count resting only on the undated ADW page) |
| The species is now increasing in much of its range | The species is increasing in abundance throughout much of its range |
| Oceans worldwide | Humpback whales live in all oceans around the world. (note: stats.habitat; reviewer cut 'Open': NOAA says calving whales prefer shallow water near reefs or shores) |
| some whales migrate 5,000 miles between summer feeding grounds and tropical mating and calving areas | some animals migrating 5,000 miles between high-latitude summer feeding grounds and winter mating and calving areas in tropical waters (note: stats.habitat; reviewer: 'some animals', not 'some populations', and 'high-latitude', not 'polar') |
| and other small fish | Humpback whales filter-feed on small crustaceans (mostly krill) and small fish. (note: stats.diet; replaces 'and schooling pelagic baitfish', which no source says) |
| Not every population has recovered, though: under the US Endangered Species Act, four of the humpback's 14 distinct population segments are still listed as endangered | The United States listed all humpback whales as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act in 1970 and then under the Endangered Species Act in 1973. ... Currently, four out of the 14 distinct population segments are still protected as endangered (note: settle #173: added from the NOAA page the issue named; "still protected as endangered" under the ESA, a US law) |
| among them Central America and the Arabian Sea | The humpback whale Central America distinct population segment (DPS), Western North Pacific DPS, Arabian Sea DPS, and Cape Verde Islands/Northwest Africa DPS are listed as endangered (note: settle #173) |