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Diving
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Image(s):
Location:
More photos from this series: |
Humpback Whales (Aug 2008)
/ page 2
Between South Passage & Pt Adolphus (near
Alaska Glacier Bay National
Park)
Humpback whales
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About this image: A shallow
breath
This photo shows the blowhole of the humpback whale with its
"spoiler" in front of it. Through evolution it seems as
though this spoiler had developed in order to aid the whale
in breathing. Being a mammal whales breath air like people
and do not have gills. This raised area in front of the
blowhole appears to act as a spoiler, directing the water
around the blowhole and allowing the whale to breath out and
back in without filling it's lungs with water. |
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About this image: A final
good bye...
This whale is going down deep to get the good stuff. The
tails of whales come in a variety of colors, from as dark as
their bodies, to light version such as this one. Some of
this coloration is attributed to the pigmented surface of
the tail actually being worn off from years of use.
Conservative estimates and research place the potential
lifespan of Bowhead whales in excess of 215 years - a lot of
time to be wearing out your tail! |
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About this image: Yoo hoo!
I'm over here!
This humpback whale thought "If I've migrated all the way to
Point Adolphus, Alaska, I may as well show off in front of
the camera". It is not entirely know why whales jump out of
the water, called breaching, but this one apparently was
having fun. It is speculated that they may do it to knock
off the barnacles growing on them, rid their skin of
parasites or they may also do it as a sign and show of power
and strength. Whatever the reason it is a awesome sight to
behold to see and capture a photo of these huge animals as
they launch themselves out the water and come crashing back
to the surface. |
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About this image: It's me
again
This whale was apparently having a good time, having
breached several times. You can see all of the seagulls in
the air hovering about. It seems that when the whales come
up feeding, splashing or breaching, they must disorient
small fish in the water. The seagulls hover about ready to
take advantage of the situation and get an easy lunch out of
it. |
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About this image: Look's
like a blowout...
Watching these humpback whales breach, splash and play
around, we wonder what goes through their heads at the time.
Several times we saw whales "rolling" about in the water and
whether it's a form of exercise and calisthenics we'll never
know, but they definitely appear to enjoy it. Although we
witnessed this dozens of times, it happens so quickly that
it is difficult to get good photos of the event. |
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About this image: Getting
ready to go deep
This high arching of the back seemed to be indicative of the
humpback whale preparing to dive deep. Usually when we saw
them arch high like this it was followed by the tail,
indicating that the whale was headed for a deep dive. |
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