Breach Baby Breach: Why Whales Leap into the Air

Whales are absolutely astounding creatures, from their rostrums to their flukes. The two largest animals on the planet are both whales, the right whale which can grow to be nearly 50 feet long and the blue whale which reaches lengths of over 80 feet. I first became obsessed with their majesty when I attended the Whale Camp, a whale watching camp up in Canada. I was drawn to them not only because of their size, but also because of the curious behaviors they exhibit. For instance, many whales do something called spyhopping to survey their surroundings above the water. Because their eyes are on the sides of their heads and their heads are typically submerged in water, they frequently have to come up and take a look and smell around to analyze any potential threats. I saw a Humpback spyhop when I was on a watch to get a good look at our boat and determine whether or not we were threats to her and her calf. Luckily for us, she didn't take off and stayed near the boat for another half hour.

 Humpback spyhopping on a Whale Camp whale watch. Photo credits to Grace Mann.

Though there is no doubt that spyhopping is a wondrous behavior to observe, it is not the most amazing feat whales can pull off. Whale breaching is one of the most exciting and mysterious animal behaviors on the planet. A breach is when a whale propels up to 90% of its body out of the water and it is a sight to behold. These multi-ton mammals are actually able to leap almost entirely out of the ocean! The humpback is one of the most common species of whale to breach and I was fortunate enough to see that humpback calf breach over a dozen times. I had never been so thrilled by something in nature in my life. I wanted desperately to know why whales exhibit this behavior.

Humpback calf breaching on a Whale Camp whale watch. Photo credits to Grace Mann.

One thing that perplexed marine biologists until earlier this year is the reason whales breach. Is it to stun prey? Is it to communicate with other whales in their pod or nearby? Is it just for fun? Breaching requires an extraordinary amount of energy since whales are such large mammals, so there had to be some biological drive for it. Scientists may have had no clear answer until January of 2017, but they had some promising hypotheses. One such hypothesis was that whales breach to communicate some need, whether it be for mating or for feeding. Another was that they do it to warn nearby whales of predators or prey in the area. Many of these hypotheses did have to do with communication, which a research group in Australia recently concluded to be likely.

Ailbhe Kavanagh, a marine biologist at the University of Queensland, conducted a study during the falls of 2010 and 2011, where she and her team studied 76 groups of humpbacks and the conditions surrounding breaching. They found that humpbacks were likely to breach when pods were far apart and that other behaviors like flipper slapping occurred most often when they were in closer together. This suggests that breaching is used in long distance communication, though what they whales are communicating exactly is yet to be determined. Though it is also unknown if there are any other reasons for whale breaching, these findings are still revolutionary. This behavior has confused marine biologists for decades and it is extraordinarily exciting to finally have an explanation.