Of course they are not chillin at some beach bar:) The humpback Whales are gathering with thousands every year around the hawaiian islands. For many of them their life starts into the clean waters of Hawaiian National Sea Park for humpback Whales. These whales, few thousands of which were left in the whole ocean, now has started to regenerate after the prohibition of their hunting. The largest counting of their population (SPLASH) has the possibility to show that their numbers in the Northern Pacific Ocean is more than 25 000.
About two thirds of these whales are gathering at the waters near the Hawaii between the end of November and May. The whales can usualy be seen only for a while, when they split the sparkling ocean surface, to breathe air. The humpback whales spend almost 90% of their life under water. They wander through the severe and distant seas, too far for scientist to track them. Observers for the Whales Fund has discovered that some of the whales who are beneath the sea surface are “singing” their famous humpback Whale song at the time when their females are taking care of the baby ones. Humpbacks have a range that covers eight octaves, from a bass so low that humans can’t hear it to a magnificent soprano. Their highly structured songs include multiple themes that are constantly repeated and even rhyme.The songs last up to 30 minutes, and the whales embellish like jazz musicians, seeing who can improvise in some attractive way better than the other whale. Whales sing to one another over hundreds of miles and use their songs to navigate across oceans. Humpback whales travel thousands of miles as a group, singing to each other as they go. They can also communicate with each other over thousands of miles of ocean. Singing is part of their social system and community. To Hawaiians, the whale is a representation of the Hawaiian god, Kanaloa – the god of fish, animals in the ocean and greenery on land. Humpback whales (na kohola) are found in all of the world’s oceans, although they generally prefer near shore and near-island habitats for both feeding and breeding. A large percentage of the North Pacific migrate to the main Hawaiian islands during the winter months, November through May, each year. The round-trip distance they travel during this annual migration is approximately 6,000 miles, one of the longest migration distances of any animal species. During their stay in Hawaii, they do not feed, but rely upon stored energy. Near the islands, the whales devote most of their time to mating and giving birth to their calves. While visiting the islands, kohola have become renowned for their various acrobatic displays. Click to hear Maori whale chant with whale song in background.“No living animals have captured our imaginations as have the great whales… They fire our imaginations and stab at our emotions. They inspire our art, literature, and music. And so they should. The indescribable blend of grace, power, and beauty of a whale as it glides underwater, leaps toward the sky, or simply lifts its flukes and slides into the sea symbolizes a vanishing poetry of the wild.”Dr. James Darling, With The Whales

Photograph of humpback whales in Tonga by William Warmus, www.warmus.us.