For the first time, researchers have documented humpback whales traveling between breeding grounds in eastern Australia and Brazil, crossing more than 14,000 kilometers of open ocean. Credit: Pacific Whale Foundation
An international team of scientists have documented, for the first time, humpback whales traveling between breeding grounds in eastern Australia and Brazil, crossing more than 14,000 kilometers of open ocean. The findings set new records for the greatest distances ever confirmed between sightings of individual humpback whales anywhere in the world.
The study, "First evidence of bidirectional exchange between distant humpback whale breeding populations in eastern Australia and Brazil," has been published in Royal Society Open Science.
"Discoveries like this are only possible because of investment into long-term multi-decadal research programs and international collaboration," Griffith University Phd Candidate and co-author Stephanie Stack said.
"These whales were photographed decades apart, by different people, in opposite parts of the world, separated by two different oceans, and yet we can connect their journey."
