Breaching
The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary describes breaching as “An acrobatic display where the humpback uses its tail to launch itself out of the water and then lands back on the surface with a splash”. I consider it a breach when I see a whale launch at least 50% of its body out of the water in a forward motion that concludes with an explosive splash ahead of the launch site. I have never seen the entire body of a whale out of the water, and the only times I see the flukes out are at the splash or just afterwards.
Breaching is uncommon in Juneau waters and scattered through the year. My photographic record (a rather small sample of 14 days) has two breaches each in May, June and August, three in September and five in July. I do not have a good written note record of breaching.
Breaching is uncommon in Juneau waters and scattered through the year. My photographic record (a rather small sample of 14 days) has two breaches each in May, June and August, three in September and five in July. I do not have a good written note record of breaching.
Back Breach
Classic back breach by an unidentified adult in Stephens Passage just nort of Scull Island on September 18, 2012.
A “classic” back breach happens when the horizontal plane (from pec to pec and across the flukes) of the whale is aligned with the surface of the water and the whale lands perfectly flat on its back with its belly up.
A “classic” back breach happens when the horizontal plane (from pec to pec and across the flukes) of the whale is aligned with the surface of the water and the whale lands perfectly flat on its back with its belly up.
Twisting back breach by an unidentified adult in Stephens Passage just nort of Scull Island on September 18, 2012.
The angle of launch is nearly always acute (<90°) but can be vertical as the lower sequence shows and twisting motions when airborne are common. The pectoral fins usually begin roughly parallel to the body but move outward as the whale rises and are often perpendicular to its body upon splashdown.
The angle of launch is nearly always acute (<90°) but can be vertical as the lower sequence shows and twisting motions when airborne are common. The pectoral fins usually begin roughly parallel to the body but move outward as the whale rises and are often perpendicular to its body upon splashdown.
Belly Breach
Whale 1879, Sasha, belly breaching off Lena Point in Favorite Channel on September 2. 2010.
The primary distinction between a belly breach and a forward lunge is the amount of the body out of the water and is really rather arbitrary. On the day this sequence occurred, Sasha did 42 breaches in a row and alternated between back and belly. Since she raised her body out of the water to well behind her pectorals, along with the back breaches, and that the splashes were spectacular, I call these belly breaches. See my comments on what I think she was doing at the very end.
The primary distinction between a belly breach and a forward lunge is the amount of the body out of the water and is really rather arbitrary. On the day this sequence occurred, Sasha did 42 breaches in a row and alternated between back and belly. Since she raised her body out of the water to well behind her pectorals, along with the back breaches, and that the splashes were spectacular, I call these belly breaches. See my comments on what I think she was doing at the very end.
Whale 1879, Sasha, back breaching off Lena Point in Favorite Channel on September 2. 2010.
From this single observation, it appears that it is far easier for humpbacks to propel themselves out of the water backwards than forwards.
Why do whales breach?
With breaching being so fascinating, people always want to know why whales do it. Here is what Suzie Teerlink says:
"These behaviors are often sporadic and difficult to interpret. While the purpose of these behaviors is largely unknown, some speculate they could be used for: social interactions, communication, looking above the surface of the water, sloughing barnacles and dead skin fragments or as play behaviors.
Taking each of these on their own, here are my thoughts, based on my observations of the whales doing these acrobatic maneuvers, with what I don’t consider realistic first and those I find more plausible last."
Looking above the water seems unlikely since they are upside down and only out for two or three seconds which means their vision is extremely limited. How functional could this brief vision be?
Sloughing barnacles: with my experience walking on barnacles on the beach and kicking and prying at them, I don’t see how even the force of a 45 ton whale could dislodge a barnacle from its skin as their glue is extraordinarily sticky. Note the great number and density of barnacles on the whale in the bottom left photo. A photographic study in Ecuadoran waters demonstrated that some do come off with intense activity [Félix, F. et al. 2004. Epizoic barnacles removed from the skin of a humpback whale after a period of intense surface activity. Marine Mammal Science,22(4): 979–984].
Sloughing skin. There are many reports of skin sloughing off, so this is a definite possibility:
A Humpback whale sheds it’s skin every 36 hours. When swimming in the wake of a whale the sloughed skin often appears like “snowfall” in the water. [http://www.worldoceans.com/Whales/whl-main.htm]
The author of this, Steve Alexander, is a Ph.D. oceanographer, so this statement must me taken with some authority (even if 36 hours seems extremely fast to me). It does not mention breaching and implies this happens while swimming. If the whale breaches to slough, this it seems to indicate there is a conscious effort that would be provoked by some discomfort to the animal, like itching. With a 1 cm thick skin with few nerve endings and ~15 cm of blubber to the closest organ and nerve array, I don’t think they feel their skin, at least in the way we humans do. My thinking is that the sloughing occurs to them the same way dandruff does to us: we don’t feel anything. If so, this is no reason to breach.
Social interactions. This is such a broad statement as to be either so irrefutable or self-apparent as to be a useless statement. Anything can be labelled as a “social interaction”. I saw nothing that would lead me to think this was a behavior designed to interact with any other whale. Every breach I saw was of a single whale, usually not within a mile or so of any other whale. The only social interactions I saw were of “escort” whales and bubble feeding. The whales were simply in the same area at the same time in my view.
Communication. That the landing from a breach makes a loud noise is irrefutable. Even from a mile away we hear the splash. I’m sure whales a long distance away can hear it as well through the far denser water that carries sound waves more efficiently than air. Just what would the splash communicate? A whale mature enough to do a breach and thus an α male or female? Since most of the breaches I saw were of calves and juveniles, it seems an inverse relationship. Is it as simple as “I can do this!” or “I am here!”? This seems a rather extreme behavior for such a simple proclamation that could be more easily done with the audible sounds that humpbacks are famous for.
Play behavior. After pretty much discounting all of the previous, this leaves me with this hypothesis. I find it both an enticing and difficult conclusion. I’ve plenty of personal experience with that animals like to play such as dogs and cats. Since humpbacks seem to be a very intelligent animal, why wouldn’t this be an appropriate conclusion? Anthropomorphism is my worry. Because we humans play, do we conclude they play? The idea that one can propel their entire body out of the water and splash down seems, on the face of it, to have no specific purpose. If it doesn’t—and I’ve outlined why I think each of the other hypotheses aren’t likely—it leaves play (or something I’ve not thought of). We just don’t know for sure, but playing seems the favorite interpretation of our guests—and me too! It is just so highly appealing that all intelligent animals should play, but that is the main reason I feel reluctant to accept it. More research is needed!
Using the principle that animals expend energy only when necessary, perhaps breaching energy could help understand this behavior. Breaching requires a great deal of energy in a spurt of activity. Whitehead 1 calculated this for humpback and sperm whales at 617 kcal, which propels 80% of the whale to 22 kmh out of the water at a 35° angle. While a single breach is only a tiny fraction—0.075%—of a whale’s daily energy expenditure, a series of breaches can add up quickly.
Whitehead, H. 1985. Humpback whale breaching. Investigations on Cetacea. Berne, Switzerland. 17: 117-155.
The vast majority of breaches I’ve witnessed here have been singular to sequence of just several. These then do not require a significant expenditure of energy, and do not help us interpret the behavior other than to include the possibility that the whale does it for reasons of its own and is not concerned with how much effort it takes.
Sasha's 42 breaches were a great puzzle to both Captain Nat and I when we watched her incredible acrobatics that September day. What in the world was she doing? We had no idea. That is until the next May 14. It was a gorgeous day in Stephens Passage on the back side of Douglas Island not far off the Admiralty Island shore and we come upon a cow and calf cruising north. We follow them for just about all the 30 minutes allowed and finally mom does a nice high tail dive in front of us. It's Sasha! I jumped up and down so excited and yelled out "Sasha had a baby!" several times and I felt like a grandpa. Suddenly a wild idea came into my head. In September I did not know she was pregnant, 9½ months of some 11 months pregnant. She had a large baby inside of her. An image of my wife at 8 months pregnant with our large first daughter came into my mind where comfort eluded her. I projected that onto Sasha and now have the "wild idea" that she was attempting to move that darn baby around a bit to make herself more comfortable. The science guy in me has been puzzling since then to come up with a way to determine if this is indeed what she was doing or if it was just a case of my anthropomorphizing. I'm sticking with it until someone proves otherwise if for no other reason than it was sure fun for me.
From this single observation, it appears that it is far easier for humpbacks to propel themselves out of the water backwards than forwards.
Why do whales breach?
With breaching being so fascinating, people always want to know why whales do it. Here is what Suzie Teerlink says:
"These behaviors are often sporadic and difficult to interpret. While the purpose of these behaviors is largely unknown, some speculate they could be used for: social interactions, communication, looking above the surface of the water, sloughing barnacles and dead skin fragments or as play behaviors.
Taking each of these on their own, here are my thoughts, based on my observations of the whales doing these acrobatic maneuvers, with what I don’t consider realistic first and those I find more plausible last."
Looking above the water seems unlikely since they are upside down and only out for two or three seconds which means their vision is extremely limited. How functional could this brief vision be?
Sloughing barnacles: with my experience walking on barnacles on the beach and kicking and prying at them, I don’t see how even the force of a 45 ton whale could dislodge a barnacle from its skin as their glue is extraordinarily sticky. Note the great number and density of barnacles on the whale in the bottom left photo. A photographic study in Ecuadoran waters demonstrated that some do come off with intense activity [Félix, F. et al. 2004. Epizoic barnacles removed from the skin of a humpback whale after a period of intense surface activity. Marine Mammal Science,22(4): 979–984].
Sloughing skin. There are many reports of skin sloughing off, so this is a definite possibility:
A Humpback whale sheds it’s skin every 36 hours. When swimming in the wake of a whale the sloughed skin often appears like “snowfall” in the water. [http://www.worldoceans.com/Whales/whl-main.htm]
The author of this, Steve Alexander, is a Ph.D. oceanographer, so this statement must me taken with some authority (even if 36 hours seems extremely fast to me). It does not mention breaching and implies this happens while swimming. If the whale breaches to slough, this it seems to indicate there is a conscious effort that would be provoked by some discomfort to the animal, like itching. With a 1 cm thick skin with few nerve endings and ~15 cm of blubber to the closest organ and nerve array, I don’t think they feel their skin, at least in the way we humans do. My thinking is that the sloughing occurs to them the same way dandruff does to us: we don’t feel anything. If so, this is no reason to breach.
Social interactions. This is such a broad statement as to be either so irrefutable or self-apparent as to be a useless statement. Anything can be labelled as a “social interaction”. I saw nothing that would lead me to think this was a behavior designed to interact with any other whale. Every breach I saw was of a single whale, usually not within a mile or so of any other whale. The only social interactions I saw were of “escort” whales and bubble feeding. The whales were simply in the same area at the same time in my view.
Communication. That the landing from a breach makes a loud noise is irrefutable. Even from a mile away we hear the splash. I’m sure whales a long distance away can hear it as well through the far denser water that carries sound waves more efficiently than air. Just what would the splash communicate? A whale mature enough to do a breach and thus an α male or female? Since most of the breaches I saw were of calves and juveniles, it seems an inverse relationship. Is it as simple as “I can do this!” or “I am here!”? This seems a rather extreme behavior for such a simple proclamation that could be more easily done with the audible sounds that humpbacks are famous for.
Play behavior. After pretty much discounting all of the previous, this leaves me with this hypothesis. I find it both an enticing and difficult conclusion. I’ve plenty of personal experience with that animals like to play such as dogs and cats. Since humpbacks seem to be a very intelligent animal, why wouldn’t this be an appropriate conclusion? Anthropomorphism is my worry. Because we humans play, do we conclude they play? The idea that one can propel their entire body out of the water and splash down seems, on the face of it, to have no specific purpose. If it doesn’t—and I’ve outlined why I think each of the other hypotheses aren’t likely—it leaves play (or something I’ve not thought of). We just don’t know for sure, but playing seems the favorite interpretation of our guests—and me too! It is just so highly appealing that all intelligent animals should play, but that is the main reason I feel reluctant to accept it. More research is needed!
Using the principle that animals expend energy only when necessary, perhaps breaching energy could help understand this behavior. Breaching requires a great deal of energy in a spurt of activity. Whitehead 1 calculated this for humpback and sperm whales at 617 kcal, which propels 80% of the whale to 22 kmh out of the water at a 35° angle. While a single breach is only a tiny fraction—0.075%—of a whale’s daily energy expenditure, a series of breaches can add up quickly.
Whitehead, H. 1985. Humpback whale breaching. Investigations on Cetacea. Berne, Switzerland. 17: 117-155.
The vast majority of breaches I’ve witnessed here have been singular to sequence of just several. These then do not require a significant expenditure of energy, and do not help us interpret the behavior other than to include the possibility that the whale does it for reasons of its own and is not concerned with how much effort it takes.
Sasha's 42 breaches were a great puzzle to both Captain Nat and I when we watched her incredible acrobatics that September day. What in the world was she doing? We had no idea. That is until the next May 14. It was a gorgeous day in Stephens Passage on the back side of Douglas Island not far off the Admiralty Island shore and we come upon a cow and calf cruising north. We follow them for just about all the 30 minutes allowed and finally mom does a nice high tail dive in front of us. It's Sasha! I jumped up and down so excited and yelled out "Sasha had a baby!" several times and I felt like a grandpa. Suddenly a wild idea came into my head. In September I did not know she was pregnant, 9½ months of some 11 months pregnant. She had a large baby inside of her. An image of my wife at 8 months pregnant with our large first daughter came into my mind where comfort eluded her. I projected that onto Sasha and now have the "wild idea" that she was attempting to move that darn baby around a bit to make herself more comfortable. The science guy in me has been puzzling since then to come up with a way to determine if this is indeed what she was doing or if it was just a case of my anthropomorphizing. I'm sticking with it until someone proves otherwise if for no other reason than it was sure fun for me.
