New POV video shows a mutually beneficial relationship between remoras and the gentle giants. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. In addition to its pod, the sizable cetacean generally hosts dozens of remoras. Also known as a suckerfish, these evolutionary wonders in the family hitch rides on whales in order to make a meal of the sea lice and other crustaceans that also make a home on the marine mammal's skin. To accomplish this, the remora possesses a distinctive, oval dorsal fin that functions like an adapted suction cup.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. The North Atlantic right whale () is one of the most endangered large whales. Their very name references their devastating decline--they were the "right" whales for whalers to target, since the animals floated after being killed. Today, their biggest threats are ship collisions and getting tangled in fishing gear. Estimates for North Atlantic right whale populations are slowly increasing, according to a New England Aquarium statement .

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. With their bubble-net feeding strategies, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are a new level of "smart" animal. Their method of making "nets" out of air bubbles is even more special than once thought. It is considered tool use, which is one way to assess an animal's level of intelligence. Out of seven species of baleen whales, humpbacks are likely the only whales that can pull off the high-performance turns required for bubble-net feeding.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. It is in these waters that marine mammal ecologist Ari Friedlaender shuts off the inflatable boat's engine and waits. This is the edge of the world--remote, hostile, and stunningly alive. Beneath the hull, the dark sea churns with wonder abound. A humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) emerges, slow, deliberate, and gentle in its curious demeanor, casting a ripple across the surface.

Scientists have found the source of a strange form of communication in the ocean that they say could help them locate extraterrestrial life in space. Researchers from the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) revealed that large'smoke ring-like' bubbles coming from underwater were created by humpback whales, which researchers believe is their way of greeting nearby humans. It's the first time scientists have seen whales sending out these unique rings while interacting with people in the wild, and the SETI team said they show an intentional attempt to get the attention of humans - just like saying hello. Until now, the bubble rings have only been seen while humpbacks were gathering prey and when males were making a trail of bubble rings to attract a mate. Researchers said it's quite possible whales have been trying to communicate with people for years but the phenomenon hasn't been studied until now.

Scientists claim they have had the first one-on-one conversation with a whale. The team from the SETI Institute and the University of California'spoke' with a 38-year-old humpback whale, named Twain, off the coast of Alaska. They used an underwater microphone to send out whale calls, 'whup/throp' sounds, and received 36 responses that seemed like Twain was actively engaged in a communicative exchange. AI-powered algorithms analyzed the replies, revealing Twain may have shared a greeting call with the team on a boat in the Pacific Ocean. While speaking to a different species has never been done in this manner, researchers are using the experience to hopefully one day converse with extraterrestrial life.

The number of humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean fell by 20 per cent between 2012 and 2021, according to a study that used artificial intelligence to identify individual whales from photos of their tails. The decline coincided with a massive marine heatwave sometimes called the blob, which began in 2013 and lasted until 2016. The unprecedented intensity of the blob was almost certainly the result of global warming. The findings suggest that around 7000 whales starved to death because of the marine heatwave, says Ted Cheeseman at Southern Cross University in Australia. The blob is known to have caused mass die-offs of many other animals, such as seabirds.

Drone footage captured by rangers shows dozens of tiger sharks feeding on the carcass of a humpback whale off the Australian coast. The feasting involved some 50 tiger sharks scavenging a humpback whale that died of natural causes and was floating adrift in the Great Sandy Marine Park off Hervey Bay, which is about 180 miles north of Brisbane. The carcass of a humpback whale left floating adrift off the coast of Australia. The frenzy, captured on video by marine park rangers Sunday afternoon, prompted a warning from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, reminding people to keep their distance from stranded or deceased marine animals. "Where there are dead whales, there are likely sharks nearby and this vision clearly shows why this is the case," senior ranger Daniel Clifton told Australia's news.com.au.

During the early years of the Cold War, an array of underwater microphones monitoring for sounds of Russian submarines captured something otherworldly in the depths of the North Atlantic. The haunting sounds came not from enemy craft, nor aliens, but humpback whales, a species that, at the time, humans had hunted almost to the brink of extinction. Years later, when environmentalist Roger Payne obtained the recordings from U.S. Navy storage and listened to them, he was deeply moved. The whale songs seemed to reveal majestic creatures that could communicate with one another in complex ways. If only the world could hear these sounds, Payne reasoned, the humpback whale might just be saved from extinction. When Payne released the recordings in 1970 as the album Songs of the Humpback Whale, he was proved right. It was played at the U.N. general assembly, and it inspired Congress to pass the 1973 endangered species act. By 1986, commercial whaling was banned under international law.