Hawaii travel. Breaching Humpback Whale in Maui. Hawaii tours

You can go on such a tour at almost any time, since in different countries and water areas the season falls at different times of the year. So, at the end of the "whale boom" in Hawaii, tourists can go to Iceland (season - from late April to late summer), Australia (June-July) or Alaska, where these animals live until August-September. In Russia, killer whales and friendly whales inhabit the Ongachan Bay on the Shantar Islands. You can watch them directly without going to the sea, from the shore. White whales, killer whales, gray whales, Japanese and Greenland whales come here to feed. White whales - an unforgettable sight. It is necessary to take a trip to the north of Russia to see this beautiful creature. The snow-white giants may seem to you in all their charm just 15 meters from the cape.

California is not in vain considered one of the best places for whale watching. This is the place to hurry for those who want to see the biggest whale - the blue one. But tourists are more attracted by gray whales - they are famous for their friendliness to humans. Whales can be seen around all of the Hawaiian islands, so many companies offer day and evening tours for whale watching on large and small boats. Most give you a guarantee of meeting with the whales, and if you cannot see the whales during the tour, the company offers you another tour for free. Usually, the cost of the tour includes drinks, snacks, whale specialist services, which will tell you everything about whales. Some companies also offer you to listen to whale songs using hydrophones.

Among all cetaceans, the humpback whale has the thickest layer of subcutaneous fat after its cousin, the blue whale, and is considered to be the record holder among the minke whales in terms of body fat and body size. The tail fin of this whale is very large and wide, and its edges are covered with uneven notches. When diving, humpback whales expose their tail high up, which is different, for example, from blues, which never show their tail fins.

How do huge whales manage to sneak up on large schools of fish? As it turned out, in order to feed each other, whales set up a bubble trap for fish and allow relatives to pass through a school of fish with their mouths wide open. It is known that humpback whales feed mainly on anchovies, the length of which practically does not exceed 20 centimeters. Despite their small size, for huge 16-meter humpback whales, they are still a welcome prey, because they like to gather in schools for several hundred individuals. Having passed through such a group of fish with an open mouth, whales can enjoy 30-60% of the whole school, which is enough for them to be full.

Humpback whales are unusual mammals, as they are endowed with amazing abilities, and one of them is singing. Whales perform a large number of long, complex and beautiful songs. To some extent, their songs are a secret for scientists: no one knows why they sing, or what their songs mean. Males sing during the breeding season, but so far there is no evidence that they thus attract females.

In total, there are about 10-15 thousand humpback whales in the world, and about a thousand swim in the warm waters of Hawaii at the end of November each year and stay here until the end of April, and then go back to the waters of Alaska. Humpback whales that live in the Pacific Ocean migrate from waters in the Alaska region to the coast of central California.

Their journey of 5,600 km, depending on the speed of their movement, takes one to two months. The average speed of a whale is usually 4.8-14 km / h, but in case of danger a whale can reach speeds of 24-26.5 km / h. Whales move in large groups, almost without stopping to rest. These groups are not permanent, and there are only a couple of days. However, a permanent relationship exists between the female and her cub. The warm waters of Hawaii are great breeding grounds for humpback whales. Pregnancy in whales lasts 10-12 months.

The humpback whale is one of the most memorable representatives of Cetacea and due to its characteristic appearance it cannot be confused with other whales. Humpback whales are one of the oldest mammals on the planet, which is confirmed by fossil remains, which are about 5 million years old. For the first time the humpback whale was described in 1756 and got its name due to the shape of the dorsal fin, which resembles a hump or because of the manner of swimming with an arched back, and its biological name was repeatedly changed.

Anchovies have been fleeing predators for millions of years and during this time they learned to avoid sea lions and other animals. However, for all this time they have not developed a strategy for the rapid detection and avoidance of whales. The secret of huge mammals lies in the size of their torso. Anchovies simply do not have time to notice and be frightened by the approaching whales, because their huge bodies even from afar seem to be motionless spots, which increase too slowly. But the relatively small bodies of sea lions and other predators can be noticed much earlier, because when swimming they perform much more maneuvers than whales.

Adult whales feed in a very ingenious way: they swallow whole schools of fish together with sea water, and then the water filtered through a filter apparatus is dumped back into the environment. The process of feeding cetaceans is greatly simplified due to a comprehensive set of biomechanical and anatomical features of their body. Whales are capable of swallowing volumes of water and food, significantly exceeding the volume of their own body. For example, a large blue whale swallows a volume of water at a time comparable to a large pool or school bus, and all this happens in seconds. Whales are also able to dive to a depth of 300 meters, while holding their breath for 12 or more minutes.

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