Tail of the Humpback. Photo found in Flickr.

For this summer’s expedition in Saguenay, we take a look at 6 of the 13 whales that are present in the region.

Take a look at this drawing to get an idea of the scale of whales and this chart on how to recognize them from whales-online.net

This species is a baleen whale. Baleen you say? They are like rigid hairs that this whale uses to comb the ocean for food, such as krill (small shrimps) – Ironic that the biggest eat the smallest. Read more about baleen on Wikipedia.

Definitely a tourist favourite, the humpback jumps out of the water, shows its tail whilst diving and sprays mist three meters high when it takes his breath. All of this from a 36-ton animal.

If that wasn’t enough, it likes to get close to us humans. Maybe it is the same curiosity that takes it all over the world, sometimes travelling 25,000 km in a single year. This is equivalent to the average an American car travels in a year! No wonder this whale beats distance records in the animal kingdom.

Links:

• Amateur video on Google Vidéo of a humpback hitting the water with its flippers.
• Good fact sheet on the humpback on Fisheries and Oceans Canada.