*Ø* Humpback whales head home, Australia
At present there are around 44 species of whale recorded in Australia, 35 of them toothed whales and nine baleen whales. The Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, is one of the baleens.
Your almanackist is fortunate enough to live a few metres back from the eastern shore of the continent (Sandy Beach, NSW). Two days ago a baby whale was stranded on the beach, as they're wont to do. I missed seeing it, but presume it was a baby Humpback on September's southward migration, from the tropical breeding waters of northern Queensland, back to the icy Antarctic.
Six thousand kilometres there and six thousand back, just to have sex – even in Australia, where long distances are the norm and God knows one can get desperate, that's a long way to go for a humpback ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with many more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date (or your birthday) when you're there.
“There were around 10,000 Humpback Whales off eastern Australia in 1952. In 1962, after 10 years of commercial whaling, that number had been reduced to a critically low 100 individuals. When Humpback whales were commercially harvested between 1952 and 1962, Australia made about 1 million pounds (current value around $32M) annually in sales of oil and other whale by-products. Today in Australia around $70M is earned annually through whale-watching and associated tourist business.”
At present there are around 44 species of whale recorded in Australia, 35 of them toothed whales and nine baleen whales. The Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, is one of the baleens.
Your almanackist is fortunate enough to live a few metres back from the eastern shore of the continent (Sandy Beach, NSW). Two days ago a baby whale was stranded on the beach, as they're wont to do. I missed seeing it, but presume it was a baby Humpback on September's southward migration, from the tropical breeding waters of northern Queensland, back to the icy Antarctic.
Six thousand kilometres there and six thousand back, just to have sex – even in Australia, where long distances are the norm and God knows one can get desperate, that's a long way to go for a humpback ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with many more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date (or your birthday) when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 4:09 PM | Permalink
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