Most scuba divers only expect to see the wonders of the ocean after they go underwater. But Craig Capeheart captured an amazing occurrence from the surface.
When most people think of humpback whales, they don’t think of them as athletic.
They’re just too large! Sure, they’re wonderful creatures, but you don’t think of them as being able to perform amazing feats of acrobatics.
But this video shows just how amazingly spry and graceful humpback whales really are.
The video begins with the animal already rising out out the water. Capeheart must have seen the animal breaching the surface of the water and hit record on his camera as soon as possible.
Then the humpback whale’s entire body leaves the water, glides in the air for a brief second and splashes back down.
The term for what the humpback whale in this video is doing is “breaching.”
Many whale species breach, but it’s hard to capture the event on camera as fully as Capeheart has. And usually, whales don’t fully leave the water in the manner of the humpback whale in the footage. It’s acting more like a flying fish than a whale!
There’s a lot of disagreement within the marine specialist community as to why whales breach the water.
There are currently three competing theories as to why whales participate in this activity.
One theory is that whales breach to communicate their desires and needs to other nearby whales.
The animals may use breaching as a mating call, essentially showing off how they’re physically fit and young. Basically, that means that breaching could be the whale equivalent of young, attractive people posting photos of themselves at the gym or doing yoga.
Another theory suggests that whales breach to look out for predators in the area.
The humpback whale in that video may have assumed that the boat that Capeheart was on was a predator. In this theory, the whale may also be communicating with other whales with its breach. But instead of a mating call, the whale is warning other whales of a threat.
The last theory states that whales may breach as a part of hunting.
When whales hunt for fish, breaching can be effective in stunning their prey. Again, there could also be an aspect of communication happening with breaching for hunting. Whales hunt in groups, so the whale could be saying to the others that food is nearby by breaching.
Whether it’s to mate, look for predators or hunt, whale breaching is surely an amazing phenomenon. Anyone who manages to see it in person is certainly lucky!
Craig Capeheart filmed the footage of this whale breaching the water off the coast of South Africa.
There could potentially be more and more videos like this in the future. That’s because humpback whale populations in Southern Africa are thriving after years of struggle.
Back in the 1970s, the region had almost hunted humpback whales to extinction. In fact, there were less than 600 in the area.
But nowadays, the western Indian Ocean has more than 30,000 humpback whales. In times when so many animals are struggling, it’s great to see that at least one species is making a comeback.
Perhaps the increase in population will help researchers understand just what whales are doing when they breach.
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