Natalia Botero AcostaScientists say the humpback whale has undertaken one of the longest and most unusual migrations ever recorded, possibly due to climate change.
It was seen in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia in 2017, then appeared several years later near Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, at a distance of no less than 13,000 km.
Experts believe this epic journey may be due to climate change depleting food stocks or perhaps a long journey to find a mate.
Ekaterina Kalashnikova, from the Cetacean Program in Tanzania, said the feat was “truly impressive and unusual even for such a highly migratory species.”
The photo below shows the same whale that was photographed in 2022, off the coast of Zanzibar.
Ekaterina KalashnikovaDr Kalashnikova said it was very likely the longest distance ever traveled by a humpback whale.
Humpback whales live in all oceans around the world. They travel long distances each year, making one of the longest migrations of all mammals, swimming from tropical breeding grounds to cold-water feeding grounds.
But this male's journey was more exciting, as it included two separate breeding areas.
One theory is that climate change is changing the abundance of the small, shrimp-like humpback whales that feed on them, forcing them to travel farther in search of food.
Instead, the whales may be exploring new breeding grounds as their numbers rebound through global conservation efforts.
“Although the actual causes are unknown, among the causes may be global changes in climate, extreme environmental events (which are more frequent nowadays), and mechanisms of evolution of this species,” Dr. Kalashnikova said.
BBC/Victoria GillThe wandering male was among a group of humpback whales photographed from a research ship on the Pacific coast of Colombia in 2013.
It was then identified in a similar area in 2017 – and off Zanzibar in 2022.
Scientists say the distance between the two sightings is 13,046 kilometers, which is the minimum distance of the whale's path, although it is likely to be much greater.
Since the Earth is spherical, the shortest path between two points is expressed as the distance of a great circle, which corresponds to an arc connecting two points on the sphere.
The research findings are based on hundreds of thousands of photographs of whales submitted by researchers, whale watchers and members of the public to the citizen science website, Happywhale.com.
The database uses artificial intelligence to match the individual shapes and patterns of humpback whale tails, or flukes, thus mapping their movements around the world.
The research is published in a journal, Royal Society Open Science.
Find out more about humpback whales at Secrets of the giants of Antarctica On BBC iPlayer.
