Tagged: humpback whales

Featured image: Swimming with whales: you must know the risks and when it’s best to keep your distance

Swimming with whales: you must know the risks and when it’s best to keep your distance - Guest Work

Guest Author • Sep 11, 2020 •

Chantal Denise Pagel, Auckland University of Technology; Mark Orams, Auckland University of Technology, and Michael Lueck, Auckland University of Technology Three people were injured last month in separate humpback whale encounters off the Western Australia coast. The incidents happened during snorkelling tours on Ningaloo Reef when swimmers came too close to a mother and her calf. Swim encounters with … Read More

Featured image: Whale of a problem: why do humpbacks protect other species?

Whale of a problem: why do humpbacks protect other species? - Guest Work

Guest Author • Aug 17, 2016 •

By Tracey Rogers, UNSW Australia A group of killer whales are on the hunt. They work together to submerge and drown a whale calf. But then more whales appear. The newly arrived humpbacks bellow a trumpet-like call, and wield their five-metre-long pectoral flippers like swords against the prowling killer whales. The killer whales are driven away from the … Read More

Humpback whales spotted in record numbers - News

Erica Mather • Jul 17, 2015 •

Delighted researchers and volunteers counted a record 137 whales during the Cook Strait Whale Survey completed this week.  This is the highest tally since the survey began in 2004 and suggests that their numbers are increasing in New Zealand waters. The annual four-week survey, run by DOC research in partnership with oil and gas company OMV New Zealand, is timed … Read More

Antarctic Voyage: Hump day – half way through the trip - Field Work

Guest Author • Feb 25, 2013 •

Written by Dr Helen Bostock  (Marine Geologist, NIWA). Date: 22/2/2013 Location: 64.838758°S, 142.310661°E Weather: 20 knots, cloudy Sea state: 2-3 m swell Humpback whales We are now half way through the voyage…. it seems to be going by quickly. While most people were at lunch today, we were visited by 5 or 6 large humpback whales … Read More