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Humpback Whale Leaking Air from Blowhole | Tonga

This small but steady stream of bubbles made it possible to locate calf 201238 (male) and his mother, even in atrociously poor visibility like this, with the whales located in deep, dark water. In this photo, the calf is starting to rise to the surface, the faint silhouette of his mother just barely visible. The adult female seemed to leak a steady stream of air from her blowholes, almost as if she had a leak. This was true over repetitive encounters (see separate close-up photo of the female’s blowholes leaking air). More puzzling, however, was the fact that the adult stopped streaming bubbles just before our final encounter with her and the calf. Did the mother have a blowhole leak? Or was she knowingly letting air escape? The calf was a shy boy, always sticking close to his mother. The pair put on a great tail-slapping and breaching display for us.

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Copyright Tony Wu. All rights reserved. No duplication, reproduction or usage without prior written permission.
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Humpback Whales Underwater
This small but steady stream of bubbles made it possible to locate calf 201238 (male) and his mother, even in atrociously poor visibility like this, with the whales located in deep, dark water. In this photo, the calf is starting to rise to the surface, the faint silhouette of his mother just barely visible. The adult female seemed to leak a steady stream of air from her blowholes, almost as if she had a leak. This was true over repetitive encounters (see separate close-up photo of the female’s blowholes leaking air). More puzzling, however, was the fact that the adult stopped streaming bubbles just before our final encounter with her and the calf. Did the mother have a blowhole leak? Or was she knowingly letting air escape? The calf was a shy boy, always sticking close to his mother. The pair put on a great tail-slapping and breaching display for us.
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