“I was so excited I couldn’t even sleep for that night after this happened,” marine scientist and whale researcher Olaf Meynecke told Reuters about the fifteen male humpback whales following a female in a mating activity.
The “heat run” was captured on Thursday (September 23) in the waters off Australia’s Queensland.
“Hearing these vocals, like the sound of the whales through the hull of the boat and feeling the energy that’s coming from this activity, it was just mind blowing,” Meynecke said. “It’s a competition for the female to see which male is actually suitable to mate with.”
“I’ve been studying these animals for so many years, so that I get excited about an event like this, says it all,” he added.
Usually, humpback whales stay in smaller pods of two or three, but this phenomenon can happen during their southern migration and mating period. “We rarely see humpback whales in large groups, only if they are feeding,” Meynecke said.
He said the energy-intensive ‘heat run’ went on for at least three hours and even attracted some dolphins. “They were going in circles, and it actually attracted a number of dolphins as well because of all that vocalizing and the movement of the water. The dolphins found it quite entertaining.”
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