My beautiful humpback whale.
I have a few computers. A couple of laptops, both MacBook Pros. And in my office, I have a Mac Studio. I’m telling you this because on my Studio, I use a screensaver. It doesn’t turn on very often, but I’m picky about what it shows when it does.
Apple gives you hundreds of choices. You can even make your own. But right now, I have a rendition of a humpback whale on my screen. And when I come back to my computer and that whale is on the screen, I am mesmerized. I can sit for a long time and watch.
Yes, I sit and watch my screen saver. The way she swims is so beautiful. And her being is magnificent. It is just her. No other fish are ambling by. That whale is magical to me.
It made me want to learn more about humpback whales. So now that you are here, I’ve roped you into it too.
Humpback whales are mainly black and grey in color. But here is something very unique about them. Their tales. They differ between individuals and are as distinctive as a human fingerprint. If one of those whales ever commits a crime, I’d hate to be the one to take their prints. But seriously. Scientists who track them use their tail patterns to identify whales from different populations.
Humpbacks are big boys and girls. The humpbacks can grow to 60 feet in length. Females are generally larger than males, with the average weight for a mature adult being 50,000 to 80,000 pounds.
Wouldn’t you know? Those big whales go far. The humpbacks have one of the longest migrating patterns in the world. Some populations of humpback whales travel as far as 5,000 miles worth of open ocean each year. They do this to go from breeding grounds — which are in warm tropical oceans — to more productive feeding grounds — in colder waters.
Their feeding? They don’t really have teeth. They have these plates that they sort of sieve their food through. The water is filtered through the plates and then expelled through the whale’s blowholes. Most of their food is composed of tiny shrimp-like crustaceans called krill. There are other tasty morsels in there as well. Like plankton and small schooling fish like anchovies, sardines, cod, and mackerel. It’s incredible that an animal weighing between 50,000 and 80,000 pounds with a body length of 60 feet can live off of something so small. They spend a good amount of their time eating up to 2,000 pounds of food each day.
All that eating and swimming must do them good. They can live for more than 90 years.
Finally, they sing, sing, sing. And their beautiful whale songs can last for hours. The songs are typically heard during the breeding season in winter but have been recorded in the summer months, too. A specific song might last anywhere from 10-20 minutes. But then they go on and repeat it for hours at a time. Eventually, over the years, they change their songs. It is mostly the males that sing. Marine biologists assume that these songs have an important role in mate selection. But truthfully, scientists are still unsure why exactly male humpback whales sing. I guess when you are in the shower all the time, singing is the thing to do.
But here is the thing I like about watching my screensaver. Despite spending most of their time underwater, those humpbacks must come to the surface to breathe. They fill their lungs with the same exact air that you and I are breathing. Right this very minute, a humpback is surfacing and taking in a deep breath. I share this same air with them. So do you.
I wish people would be more kind to this planet.
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“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” – Thích Nhất Hạnh
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“Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment.” – Thích Nhất Hạnh
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“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath.” – Herman Melville
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It’s a whale of a story, I’ll tell you. Save the screen!
