📸 PhotoPhoto: Dr. Louis M. Herman. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae (Humpback Whale · ザトウクジラ)
🇰🇷 Marine Protected Species (Korea)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its tail fluke width of about 5.5 m is wider than the length of a passenger car (about 4.5 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 Some populations swim about 5,000 miles (about 8,000 km) one way between breeding and feeding grounds—roughly 20 times the distance from Seoul to Busan in Korea (about 400 km) (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Humpback Whale is a baleen whale living in oceans across both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, migrating annually between warm breeding grounds and cold feeding grounds.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
The tail flukes are up to about 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, with a serrated trailing edge and pointed tips.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It filters seawater through baleen plates to feed on small crustaceans such as krill and small fish, and sometimes creates circular bubble nets to corrall prey. Gestation lasts 11 months, and newborn calves measure about 4–5 m (13–16 feet).
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed as a Marine Protected Species on the National List of Species of Korea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13006/50362794
- • 해양보호생물 — 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053369 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053369
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • Korean protection status: Marine Protected Species (Korea)
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006405
- • iucnredlist.org — 50362794
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053369 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053369
- • wikidata.org — Q132905
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Humpback whales in singing position.jpg
- • fisheries.noaa.gov — humpback-whale
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.