A Chin Slapping Humpback!! Yes, it's a thing. Firstly, Humpbacks are amazing and are one of my favourite species of Cetaceans to interact with around the world. I've been fortunate enough to work with them along the East coast of Australia, west coast of Canada, west coast of Panama, Norway & Antarctica. The type of encounters I have had still make my smile to this day - for example, I have been bumped by one in my boat, I've been mugged by them, I have seen them breaching, bubble net feeding, I've been covered in their snot, swam with them, heard them singing under the water, when I was swimming once a calf almost ran into me out of excitement. I have had a lot.
However, even though they are giants - around the 30-40 tonne mark - they are gentle and mean us no harm. Still remember though they are 30-40 tonnes and incredibly powerful. In this regards, when you are with them on the water in small vessels you have to stay diligent and aware of what they are doing, their behaviour and if there is any sudden change in that behaviour.
a humpback coming up vertically from the water, preparing to chin slap.
Of course, everyone's favourite behaviour is breaching, when they jump out of the water in spectacular fashion. No word of a lie - its awesome! Honestly, there could be many reasons why they breach/jump.. However, at the end of the day it comes down to communication. Communication between them and other Humpbacks that are in the area. What are they communicating?
Their is one behaviour though, which is known as Chin slapping or Head slapping. Its apparent meaning as to why they do this is still unknown - however, there are some theories and from my experience with being around them during that behaviour I am going to share with you now.
Personally, its a territorial thing. From what I have seen, it is typically smaller humpbacks and they seem to do it when they are larger animals close by (a few miles or so). It seems it could be a way of them attempting to intimidate any competing animals to stay away from where they are. underneath their mouth is very elastic, as they are rorqual whales and have throat pleats allowing them to engulf huge amounts of water & food. So, when they do slap this part of their body onto the surface of the sea - the noise is intense!!! Its loud - I mean you can hear it for miles above the water insanely loud, which then makes you think since sound travels a lot more efficiently under the water... Its even louder.
The reason I am leaning towards the scare/warn behaviour is due to when I have seen this behaviour and the circumstances surrounding the situation. It was in feeding grounds and the animals were aggressively feeding, especially, the larger animals. Then a smaller humpback, whom might not have been as experienced in foraging as the older animals began chin slapping. Again and again and again and again in a circle pattern.
This suggested to me that the little guy might have been feeling slightly frustrated, as it might have been not getting any food as it was quite smaller than the other animals in the vicinity. Well, this is just my theory & no one truly knows for sure... yet - why it is they do this behaviour. This is why I love this field - there is sooooo much we still don't know about these graceful giants. I learn something new every time I interact with them.
- What are your thoughts?
- Have any of you seen this behaviour before?
- You think its a warning behaviour or attracting behaviour?
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