LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Whales (Ecotourism): Humpback Whales
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Like the Humpbacks, Blue Whales often shift to various feeding locations off central California in search of krill concentrations. Blue Whales begin to migrate south during November. It is still a mystery as to where the Blue Whales gather to give birth and mate, but it is suspected this happens in offshore waters south of Mexico. Blue Whales produce very low frequency sounds that are probably used for long-range communication, with some sounds possibly used to locate dense krill patches. These low moaning sounds can travel over hundreds or thousands of miles across ocean basins.
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Humpback whales feed on krill, small shrimp-like crustaceans, and various kinds of small fish. Each whale eats up to 1 and 1/2 tons (1,361 kg) of food a day. As a baleen whale, it has a series of 270-400 fringed overlapping plates hanging from each side of the upper jaw, where teeth might otherwise be located. These plates consist of a fingernail-like material called keratin that frays out into fine hairs on the ends inside the mouth near the tongue. The plates are black and measure about 30 inches (76 cm) in length. During feeding, large volumes of water and food can be taken into the mouth because the pleated grooves in the throat expand.
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On May 13, 2007, a pair of humpback whales – a mother and calf – were spotted off the banks of Rio Vista. The two sea mammals traveled nearly 90 miles upstream from the Golden Gate Bridge and into the dead end of the turning basin in the Port of Sacramento. A fleet of rescue boats, tried everything from playing recorded whale sounds to spraying the river with fire hoses, to herd the whales back to the ocean. But the whales managed to find their way back to the San Francisco Bay late Tuesday, May 29. Read stories about a similar whale visit two decades ago
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The Dominican Republic has made these whales' birthing grounds on Silver Banks, just north of that Caribbean country, a marine sanctuary. After giving birth during the winter or early spring, mothers bring their calves to the rich feeding grounds of Stellwagen Bank or other parts of the Gulf of Maine. Like all mammals, the mothers nurse their young. A 10-15 foot baby humpback may nurse as long as a year, adding up to 15 feet in length each month. An adult humpback may grow to be up to 50 feet long.
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Communication: There is still much scientists have to learn about how whales communicate. Most scientists believe... that whales primarily use sound. Some whales use sound to orient themselves in their environment, an ability known as echolocation. Similar to the way in which bats 'see' in the dark, whales make noises that bounce back from objects, thereby enabling the whale to gain a 'picture' of its environment. Because of their highly sophisticated sense of hearing, whales most likely use sound to attract mates, repel rivals, communicate within a social group or between groups, navigate or find food. Perhaps the most famous of the whale sounds is the song of the Humpback.
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The milk of whales is very rich, containing 28 % (in the sei whale) to 53 % (in the gray whale) of fat. This is ... true for toothed whales (17 % in spotted dolphins to 46 % in harbour porpoises). On such a diet, the calves grow rapidly. A humpback whale calf is between 4 and 5 m. long at birth and grows to 7.5 - 9 m. in about 5 months. The calf consumes a minimum of 45 kg of milk per day. Blue whale calves grow from about 7 m. to 16 m. in just 7 months.
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Humpback Whales