With new social distancing measures in place, many might feel distant from our loved families and friends. With World Whale Day (20 Feb 2022) around the corner, perhaps we could take the occasion to see how whales cope with distance!

1. Whale songs

Sound travels much faster underwater than on land. Humpback whales have learned to take advantage of this physical fact by using whale songs or vocalizations to communicate with each other. This strategy has been proven to be very effective, as it was reported that whale songs can be heard from over 30km!

2. Migration Humpback whales are keen travellers.

While they often feed near the poles, they take on a journey of 25,000 km yearly to breed in the tropics and do not eat during the travel.

Despite being the magnificent marine mammal they are, the population of humpback whales once plummeted by 90% before worldwide control over whaling was enacted in 1966. While the species have shown recovery, increased protection was put in place, they are threatened by fishery operations due to the dangers of underwater noise and fishnet entanglement.