Humpback whale Facts for Kids

Humpback whales sing songs under the sea. They leap out of the water and splash back down. A baby whale is called a calf.

Humpbacks have no teeth. They have baleen plates that strain small food out of the water. Sometimes a group works as a team: they blow a ring of bubbles around a school of fish, then swim up through the middle with their mouths open.

Humpbacks make one of the longest journeys of any mammal: they feed in cold, food-rich waters in summer, then swim to warm waters where the mothers give birth, eating very little on the way. Each whale's tail has its own pattern of black and white, so scientists can tell them apart from photos. Whaling once took so many humpbacks that they became rare, but since it was stopped many groups have recovered, though ships and fishing nets are still dangers.