Flock of hundreds of whales makes the scientific community confused

The humpback whales gathering in large flocks are unprecedented acts, especially when their numbers have been declining in the last 100 years.

A flock of 200 baby humpback whales appeared off the coast of South Africa last weekend, their normal feeding habitats are thousands of kilometers away, making many scientists feel puzzled, because whales are not usually congested. Such large volumes, Science Alert on March 14 reported.

Whales are not creatures of a large social organization, they often move and hunt alone, in pairs or small groups in a short time.

Herds of large whales are hunting off South Africa.(Photo: Jean Tresfon).

This strange behavior of whales was also discovered in 2011, 2014 and 2015. One hypothesis is that this is a sign that whales are returning to community activity, which was once maintained before numbers. Their amount is reduced by 90% due to human hunting activities in the early 20th century.

"I have never seen anything like that. Maybe that behavior happens where people cannot see it. They are too small in number, making us not observe this behavior," said Dr. Ken. Findlay is from the Cape Peninsula Peninsula Technology University in South Africa.

Whales can also gather into large flocks to cope with the change in the number of prey. Although the catch has made their numbers plummet, humpback whales are recovering mysteriously."In the last few decades, they seem to have overcome the challenge and started to grow in numbers very quickly," said Dr. Gílili Vikingsson, head of the whale research group at the Iceland Institute for Sea and Freshwater Research. , said.

Humpback whales can be up to 16 meters long and weigh about 36 tons. Despite their huge size, they are completely harmless to humans, primarily eating molluscs and small fish. The last time humpback whales were discovered prey in areas off South Africa nearly 100 years ago.