The humpback whale is a widely recognized species. Weighing around 40 tonnes, and measuring 14-17m. It is known for its habit of breaching (as above) which can be heard from miles away, and its incredibly complex song, which can last between 4 minutes and 33.
Their low sounds can be heard by whales 1000 miles away, and have been picked up by electronic sources far further away than that.
Whaling did horrific damage to this species, with their population falling to just 5000 in the 1960s. Thankfully, having been protected, the population is now around 135,000. Subspecies are more varied, with those in the northern hemisphere less secure. The least secure is the Arabian sea population, which is thought to be isolated for 70,000 years and there are only 80 that remain.
Threats to individual whales include entanglement in fishing gear, ocean noise and collisions with ships.
They are known to have hunting methods more complex than most baleen whales, including bubble netting which forces the fish into tighter shoals to then be taken in one mouthful.
Young are predated by orca in some parts of the world, and many carry scars from these encounters to the end of their lives.
The fin whale which is also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is the second longest species of whale, with the largest species growing to a reported 27m, and weighing a maximum recorded weight of 74 tonnes, and a maximum estimated weight of 114 tonnes.
It is a fast swimmer, able to outpace the fastest steamships.
There are 2 recognized subspecies, in the northern and southern hemisphere. Around 725,000 southern fin whales were taken during whaling, and there are around 38,000 that roam the oceans as of 1997. Across the world around 112,000 roam the oceans.
Although the genetic differences between the fin whale and the blue whale are considered similar to that of humans and gorillas (they are thought to have been split for 3.5 million years) and hybrids have been recorded from time to time.
Average dives are around 6 minutes, with the longest dives recorded being around 17 minutes.
Found around the world, though not found close to the polar ice caps at either end of the globe. They appear to be clearly migratory, but it has not been possible to fully work out what this migration pattern might be.
Abundant in almost all of the worlds oceans until the 19th century, they were hunted close to extinction. In 1966 hunting of them were banned.
There are places around the world, where these animals can be watched, we hope to link to many of these below.
At their peak, before whaling, it was thought that their was around 350,000 in the world. Now there is between 10,000 and 25,000 around the world.
It is certainly not the time to allow them to be hunted again, far from it.
One recent suggestion, is that whales sink huge quantities of carbon down into the ocean, and that our current problems with global warming might have been tiny if we had not killed the vast majority of most species of Baleen whales.
Below is a small outtake from blue planet, the bbc series from 2001 which features a blue whale in the vastness of the ocean
I have included a second video clip, as this one give you an idea of the size and shape of a blue whale, in a way that little footage does.
Below this is any articles that have been written about blue whales on this website, and below that, we will add any links that might help you see blue whales in the wild.
Bizarrely, having been described in the 1850s it was not recognized as a separate species until the 1990s. Thankfully, largely ignored by whalers, it came out of the whaling age with a population that still numbered in the hundreds of thousands – with current estimates falling around half a million individuals.
The Antarctic and the Southern Minke whales are thought to have diverged around 4.7 million years ago. They are found throughout much of the Southern hemisphere.
They are the main prey item for type A killer whales, with multiple occasions this hunt having been watched. There has been a recorded occasion when a group of 10 type B killer whales also killed one of these whales.
The smallest species of rorquals and second smallest baleen whales in the ocean. It was originally ignored, a primary target of whalers in the Southern hemisphere. Also known as the Northern minke whales, it lives in the Southern hemisphere, but is not the Southern Minke as that one lives in the waters around the Antarctic. Its range expands far into the northern hemisphere, up into arctic waters.
Hybrids of the 2 species have been found on several occasions, and it appears that the offspring are fertile – whether this is a threat to the two species as climate change pushes them further together.
It is odd that the common minke whale is also known as the Northern minke whale, as there is a Northern Minke whale which is found in the northern hemisphere.
The Southern right whale, like the other species in its genus, was hunted incredibly close to extinction. As a wide ranging species, when the population fell possibly as low as 300 in 1920 – so this species was saved by its low numbers, not the ban on hunting in 1935, which likely would have come too late.
It should be noted that Russia ignored this role until 1970. During these 35 years, many were killed by Russia, and when I say many, we are talking hundreds of thousands of species that everyone else was trying to save.
The population is now thought to be around 13,600, which is an impressive increase in around 100 years, of around 45 times increase. The historical population is estimated to lie between 55,000 and 70,000.
So where can they be watched? Far and away, the best known place to see them is Hermanus in South Africa, where around 100 whales congregate each year. I have seen them here, and it is a relatively easy species to see if you are in the right place. They are found from around around 20 degrees South to 65 degrees South around the world. In the past New Zealand was a fantastic place to watch them, and in recent years they returned for the first time in 80 years. They are also naturally seen in big numbers around Australia, and places like Patagonia.
Few people can avoid stopping to watch, if they spot cetaceans from a cliff. While the family is wide and varied, they are all pretty interesting. From some of the largest and most intelligent hunters such as killer whales to the largest animal on earth the blue whale.
Whale and dolphin watching tourism is worth a lot of money – this can be essential, as in many places the extra money helps a community survive.
I hope, overtime, to make this section of the website as large a list of places to view cetaceans and people who will help you in that quest.
As might perhaps be suspected, all of the mammal species which have returned permanently to the sea, and developed breathing holes located on their back (and therefore perfectly placed for taking quick breaths) are related.
So what is the most closely related living land mammal? Perhaps obviously, it is a species which spends much time in the water – the hippopotamus.
As with all of these pages, as we create pages for each individual species, they will be linked to the photo below.
So the baleen whales are split into three families, these are not large as there are only 16 species of baleen whales in the world. At the current time, there are roughly 1.1 million baleen whales in the worlds oceans
Below is a family tree of the group
Baleen Whales
Baleenideae – the rhight whales
The first living split is Baleenidae, this family is not huge. The north atlantic and north pacific are closest related, these species are closely related to the Southern pacific right whales. Their name is unfortunate – it is called right whale for 3 reasons, it swims slowly, floats when dead and carries a large amount of oil. This lead to all these species being hunted close to extinction.
The other family is called Balaenopteroidea. Here species peel off slowly. I will list them in the order that they split.
The first split is the minke whale – of which there are 2 species, the common and southern minke whale, with the grey whale being the next most similar.
Delphininidae – these are the oceanic dolphins – 37 species split into several subfamilies which we will deal with one by one.
Subfamily Delphininae – 15 species (tamanend bottle nose dolphin only recognized as separate species, will build page for it at some point when photos are readily available.
The next family is the beaked whales. There are 24 species, of which only 3-4 have been well studied. This is because they spend much of their time deep in the sea, it appears that each species does not have many members and they are incredibly reclusive in their habits.
One might ask how an air breathing animal can spend so much of its time deep in the ocean? Well the Curved beaked whale has had a dive timed at 138 minutes. More incredible, they only need around 2 minutes to catch their breathe before sinking back into the depths. This means that if required, they can spend just 20 minutes out of 24 hours at the surface – an incredible stunt.
There appear to be a great number of species that are extinct – these we will not list, but will mention each subfamily in passing.
Incertae sedis contains 5 extinct genus, Basal forms include 13 extinct genus
Subfamily Berardiinae contains 3 genus, 2 of which are extinct, but the third contains 3 living species (and one dead) .
The most populous genus Mesoplodon – mesoplodont whales
As you can see, many of the pictures are of dead whales, or skulls or diagrams, or even just text. This is because sightings of many species are so rare that they have never had a photo taken
As you can see from the whale family tree, the sperm whales are separate from the rest. However, they are toothed whales so belong in this section of the page.
The dwarf crocodile (also known as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile -a name more often used for the Asian mugger crocodile) or bony crocodile), is an African crocodile that is also the smallest living species of crocodile.
Found in lowlands to mid-height areas, in small and mid-size streams (they avoid large rivers). Generally, they live in rivers that lie in rainforest, though they will venture into the open.
They are known, in places, to be found in pools deeply isolated in Savannah. In western Gabon, there are also a group which have been living long-term in caves. It is considered vulnerable by the IUCN and is Appendix i of CITES. Where they are declining, it appears largely as a result of deforestation and hunting for the bushmeat trade. As a result, while in some regions they have a healthy population, in others (like Gambia and Liberia) they are almost lost.
In zoos in the USA and Europe there are a few of this species, however, records are not good, and quite a few of them are clearly hybrids with little conservation use. I should note, a zoo I occasionally volunteer at (marwell zoo) had one of these crocodiles until last year when it went to another zoo for breeding.
We hope to be able to list places for you to visit to see this species as soon as possible. Any of these will appear below the video and the news section (this lists all the times that this species has been mentioned (if any) in this blog). Below this, we will list all the easiest places we have connections to, to see this species.
The Nile crocodile is spread widely throughout sub-saharan africa (except for parts
of South Africa, thought to be natural and not due to hunting). A suggested subspecies is found in western Madagascar, there are 7 such subspecies, though none have been officially recognized.
While it was originally thought to be the same species as the western African crocodile (confusing given its range), it has actually been found to be closer related to various crocodiles from the Americas, particularly the American crocodile. As such, parts of the map above may actually host west African crocodiles exclusively.
The Nile crocodile is considered the second largest on earth, only beaten by the saltwater crocodile of Asia, interestingly, interestingly the saltwater crocodile is also the only crocodilian that has a greater range than the African crocodile. It was thought that the crocodile had arrived on Madagascar in the last 2000 years – after the extinction of the endemic Voey crocodile, but recently a skull was found and dated to be 7500 years old, suggesting that they must have coexisted for millennia.
While rarely venturing into the sea, they can (like all true crocodiles) survive here, and one was found alive 11 miles off the South African coast in the past.
They have been found in the Florida Everglades, presumably after an illegal introduction – there is so far no evidence of them successfully breeding here. It is unclear of their origin or where they came from, though they are genetically most similar to crocs from South Africa.
While they usually only dive for a few minutes at a time, they are capable of holding their breath for 30 minutes of activity under water – impressively, those inactive under water can stay down for around 2 hours. While rapid and effective hunters in the waters and along its edge, they are far less capable away from the water, and it is rare that they hunt away from water, having said this they are known to hunt here, and are incredibly adaptable to any opportunity. They have a surprisingly small stomach, only the size of a basketball.
Only around 10% of eggs will hatch and around 1% will survive to adulthood. Certainly, much of this damage is down to the Nile monitor lizard, which is thought to be responsible for as much as 50% of the eggs on its own, though median sized cats, baboon troops and mongooses all attack crocodile nests with regularity. Once born, crocodiles are even more at risk, both from animals already mentioned, as well as virtually every predatory water bird, from storks and egrets to even pelicans. Unfortunately, the biggest threat are other adult crocodiles which will happily eat young. While the mother does stay around, and aggressively protects her young, there are so many animals trying to snag a meal, many of the young crocodiles are caught during this time.
The biggest threats include loss of habitat, pollution, hunting, and human activities such as accidental entanglement in fishing nets.
Current estimates are around 250,000 to 500,000. In some parts of Africa they are farmed for their hide (their meat is unpleasant).
Their population is less healthy in western and central Africa, being more sparsely spread. This also makes it hard to do an accurate assessment of their status in this part of Africa.
Along with the saltwater crocodile, the African nile crocodile is estimated to kill anywhere from hundreds to thousands of people each year, with attacks generally carried out by larger crocodiles (thought to be over 3.5m). Given the numbers, it is thought that nile crocodiles and saltwater crocodiles are the most successful hunter of humans – far more fatalities than great while sharks. One study suggested, that while the danger of lions was well known, there was a bizarre feeling that crocodiles were not dangerous. The numbers may well be down to the fact that crocodiles live in water – a place where humans are forced to go regularly.
Below this is a list of any articles released on this site, which mentions the Nile crocodile. Below this, is a video of the species, and below this, we will add links of places to see this species, though if you visit wild places, all savannahs listed on the site will have nile crocodiles.
African Savannah African forest, and Asian Elephant
There are 3 species of elephant in the world (these come from two closely related genera, Loxodonta (the African elephant genus, and Elephas the Asian elephant genus, both are dealt with on this page). They are a good indicator species, as if an area is capable of supporting elephants, it can probably support most other species as well (those above are in the same order, should you not recognize them).
The African Savannah elephant (left) and African Forest Elephantelephant (right) are both part of the same genus – Loxodonta. The Asian elephant (only one species, though a 3 subspecies Sri Lankan elephant, Mainland Asian elephant and Sumatran Elephant) is the only member of the genus Elephas. It is important to remember, that while the mammoth is a well known extinct species like the Elephant, it is estimated that there have been 180 different elephantine species in earths history.
Click on the one you are interested below, to find out more (along with seeing longer videos on each separate species), or scroll down to read all the articles we have written on elephants.
We already have a number of places to view wild savannah elephants. Click on wild places or here, for all our savannah destinations in Africa. All the savannahs have elephants, Except the mountain gorilla reserve, which has forest elephants – often seen on a walk in this reserve.
Should you work in tourism or conservation, and would like to list another destination, either of this species of elephant, or indeed of African forest elephants or Asian elephants, you will find a link at the top of the main page “list your wild place” or alternatively click here.
The smallest species of rorquals and second smallest baleen whales in the ocean. It was originally ignored, a primary target of whalers in the Southern hemisphere. Also known as the Northern minke whales, it lives in the Southern hemisphere, but is not the Southern Minke as that one lives in the waters around the Antarctic. Its range expands far into the northern hemisphere, up into arctic waters.
