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.

This is the time of September's southward migration for humpbacks, 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 whale.

By October the humpbacks will be passing the aptly named port of Eden on the south coast of NSW. This old whaling town holds its Whale Festival in that month and whale watch cruises are most numerous in October and November.

Tagged: australia, environment, wildlife