Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 12, 1 December 1994 — Ke ao nani [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ke ao nani

Natiirally Haiuaiian

by Patrick Ching artist/environmentalist

The humpbacks return

TheyTe ba-ack. The spectacular humpback whales have returned to Hawai'i from their summer feeding grounds off Alaska.

Eaeh winter the whales eome to these tropical waters to mate and bear offspring. They bring with them a hauntingly beautiful song

whieh changes a little eaeh year. We ean only guess at what the whale songs mean but one thing's for sure: if ever you hear one, you will never forget it.

Adult humpbacksi are between 35 to 45 feet long and may weigh 45 tons or more. Females usually give birth in January or February. These calves are about 13 feet long at birth and weigh about two tons. Mother humpbacks use stored blubber to produce milk for their calves because adult whales do little or no feeding while in Hawaiian waters. In a month or two the calves are nearly twice their birth weight and are ready for the long northward migration back to Alaska. Humpbacks are very social

creatures and usually travel in groups, or "pods." They are known for the habit of "breaching," or leaping out of the water and reentering with a giant splash. Scientists are able to identify individual whales by the black

and white patterns on the underside of their flukes. The Hawaiian name for humpback whale is koholā. They are baleen whales and do not have teeth like sperm whales, whieh are called palaoa.