A Chin Slapping Humpback!! Yes, it's a thing. Firstly, Humpbacks are amazing and are one of my favourite species of Cetaceans to interact with around the world. I've been fortunate enough to work with them along the East coast of Australia, west coast of Canada, west coast of Panama, Norway & Antarctica. The type of encounters I have had still make my smile to this day - for example, I have been bumped by one in my boat, I've been mugged by them, I have seen them breaching, bubble net feeding, I've been covered in their snot, swam with them, heard them singing under the water, when I was swimming once a calf almost ran into me out of excitement. I have had a lot.
However, even though they are giants - around the 30-40 tonne mark - they are gentle and mean us no harm. Still remember though they are 30-40 tonnes and incredibly powerful. In this regards, when you are with them on the water in small vessels you have to stay diligent and aware of what they are doing, their behaviour and if there is any sudden change in that behaviour.
a humpback coming up vertically from the water, preparing to chin slap.
Of course, everyone's favourite behaviour is breaching, when they jump out of the water in spectacular fashion. No word of a lie - its awesome! Honestly, there could be many reasons why they breach/jump.. However, at the end of the day it comes down to communication. Communication between them and other Humpbacks that are in the area. What are they communicating?
Their is one behaviour though, which is known as Chin slapping or Head slapping. Its apparent meaning as to why they do this is still unknown - however, there are some theories and from my experience with being around them during that behaviour I am going to share with you now.
Personally, its a territorial thing. From what I have seen, it is typically smaller humpbacks and they seem to do it when they are larger animals close by (a few miles or so). It seems it could be a way of them attempting to intimidate any competing animals to stay away from where they are. underneath their mouth is very elastic, as they are rorqual whales and have throat pleats allowing them to engulf huge amounts of water & food. So, when they do slap this part of their body onto the surface of the sea - the noise is intense!!! Its loud - I mean you can hear it for miles above the water insanely loud, which then makes you think since sound travels a lot more efficiently under the water... Its even louder.
The reason I am leaning towards the scare/warn behaviour is due to when I have seen this behaviour and the circumstances surrounding the situation. It was in feeding grounds and the animals were aggressively feeding, especially, the larger animals. Then a smaller humpback, whom might not have been as experienced in foraging as the older animals began chin slapping. Again and again and again and again in a circle pattern.
This suggested to me that the little guy might have been feeling slightly frustrated, as it might have been not getting any food as it was quite smaller than the other animals in the vicinity. Well, this is just my theory & no one truly knows for sure... yet - why it is they do this behaviour. This is why I love this field - there is sooooo much we still don't know about these graceful giants. I learn something new every time I interact with them.
- What are your thoughts?
- Have any of you seen this behaviour before?
- You think its a warning behaviour or attracting behaviour?
Thanks for reading and all the support, Steemit!!
All stories & photographs are of my own work unless noted under the picture in question.
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Another great post @thomasjmitchell!, thanks a lot for the information, beautiful photography, again, and for allowing me to recall multiple experiences relating to the famous cetacean.
As I lived on Haida Gwaii, in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, at the very southern tip of the Alaskan Pan-Handle, I often had the blessings of sharing time with them. Of the most memorable images is the one where I was talking with a Haida Watchmen, at Hot Springs Island, describing to him how we had just seen a group of males breaching one after another, about 40 times over the course of the passing, about 20 minutes, and, far behind him, in the bay, two humpbacks came facing each other jousting style and jumped all the way out at the very last moment, together, raising in the air in a perfect parallel flight all the way to the apex of their jump and, as they turned and fell back in the waters, the spray they carried out of the ocean formed a heart in the air that fell with them! My jaw dropped, the moment fleeting, I gasped and let him finish his story fully unaware of what had just happened.
Namaste :)
Cool. I've always wanted to get up to Haida Gwaii. Unfortunately I've only been up to the tip of Van Island. One day I'll get there.
That is a beautiful moment
Very good
@thomasjmitchell this is the first post of yours I have seen and I am so excited that I have found your account and can't wait to see what you will be posting in the future! Thank you for sharing your knowledge about humpback whales with us I did not know any of the awesome facts that you shared! And furthermore I am so incredibly jealous of all the interactions you have been so lucky to have with those amazing creatures!! I can't imagine what it must be like to be covered in whale snot or to be almost run over by a baby humpback!!! So cool!!
Your photos are beautiful as well! Especially the third photo, I love that you can see the whales eye! Looking forward to following your journey and reading more of your stories in the future! :)
Thanks for reading and following me! Its greatly appreciated. Just so you know that being covered in whale snot isn't that great - the smell is quite terrible and very hard to get off in some instances. Think of a smell that is somewhat like fish breath, smelly socks and bad B.O all mixed together...
Hahaha! That does not sound too good at all! But I don't think too many people can say they've been that close to a whale let alone covered in its snot too!! Anyway you are very lucky to have had those encounters, I really hope to get a whale encounter like you've had in the future! :D but maybe not a snotty one!
post a very nice .. job is perfect, good for you
Would you say this was a....chin slapping good time?
Heh.
Resteem and upvote
Beautiful post I like it.
Wow!!! Beautiful natural picture
I have not seen in my life such a huge whale and strange you say it does not hurt a person, although the weight as it says 30 40 tons This is strange is very powerful how to say it is a pet @thomasjmitchell
Good article and excellent pictures. I heard a theory that that can behave life this on order to rid themselves of marine parasites. Although I guess you would expect them all to do this then which doesn't match with your observations.
Ohhhhh my good thats amusing photography
Blue while .........such this picture is awesome
@thomasjmitchell
This is so up close! Interesting how you see the Humpbacks like a ballerina in the ocean! That's pretty cool way of seeing them that way!
Damn I love your whale pics! Can't wait to see them in person some day.
Totally in awe of these creatures. Even if they were to cover me in their snot, I would still love them!
Amazing!! I wish I could photograph this kind of stuff!
very beautiful photos and I love it very much
While I'm wholly unqualified to make any statements regarding whale behaviour, my "instinct" tells me it's a form of communication. What blows me away is the fact that Cetaceans must've developed all that intelligence after returning to the sea. You'd think such an environment wouldn't be stimulating enough to build brains like that.
I've had close encounters with wild common and bottlenose dolphins and they have that same "spark" as humans. Maybe a keen sense of self-awareness? They acted like they knew that I was like them in a way. I think much of their behaviour is about communication because their means of communication are almost unfairly limited compared to their intelligence.
agreed! Personally, I consider whales (especially Orca) to be non-human people. The breaching and slapping is solely for the purpose of communicating in some degree. The next question is 'what' are they communicating... Thanks for commenting @nonsqtr
amazing!!job is perfect, good for you
Great article & photos :-). Don't discount the possibility of an itchy chin... I'm kidding of course.... I've never seen a whale up close. I have been fortunate to observe them from the shore, and even at a hundred metres or so the experience produces goose bumps. Living in South East Queensland, I really should make the effort to get a bit closer one day.
I love this. All my life I've been fascinated by whales, and I finally had my first real life whale encounter about 6 weeks ago on my honeymoon in Hawaii. Incredible! They are amazing majestic creatures
A Chin Slapping Humpback!! Yes, it's a thing. Firstly, Humpbacks are amazing and are one of my favourite species of Cetaceans to interact with around the world. I've been fortunate enough to work with them along the East coast of Australia, west coast of Canada, west coast of Panama, Norway & Antarctica. The type of encounters I have had still make my smile to this day - for example, I have been bumped by one in my boat, I've been mugged by them, I have seen them breaching, bubble net feeding, I've been covered in their snot, swam with them, heard them singing under the water, when I was swimming once a calf almost ran into me out of excitement. I have had a lot.
very nice picture
Another fantastic post. Thanks again.
@thomasjmitchell great post