Leaving Hervey Bay on their migration south the Humpbacks travel non stop to their feeding grounds in Antarctica.
Although it was generally accepted that THEY DO NOT FEED WHILST ON MIGRATION, some operators have reported what they believed as feeding, when the whales travel North along the East coast of Fraser Island, but this is yet to be confirmed. May be Humpback whales can't resist a nibble on the way and who could blame them. Their migration takes about six months, yet they travel some 10.000 km and females give birth to a 1.500kg calf! No wonder they are hungry, when they get back.
Their food is krill, a tiny shrimp-like creature found in great density and the whales "lunge" towards the food, their mouths partly open and their "throats" fully extended.
This expands and allows the whale to take large volumes of water and krill,
then to close its mouth and to force the water out, trapping the krill. With their tongue, which is as big as a small car, they lick the food from the baleen plate. They can eat up to 1.500 kg a day!
Sometimes the krill is not found in acceptable density and the Humpback has learned an ingenious way to trap the krill: BUBBLE NETTING. By diving under the density of the food mass and releasing a curtain or spiral of air, they trap the krill. They then swim through the centre of the "net", mouths open, until they reach the surface.
And sometimes they feed like this with as many as twelve or more whales, in total communication and co-operation with each other.
