Mysterious Whale Swarms Perplexing Scientists
"Super-groups" of up to 200 humpback whales—a normally solitary species—are gathering off South Africa.
Why are all of these humpback whales all suddenly hanging out? No one really knows.
In a new study, scientists report spotting as many as 200 humpbacks at a time gathering off South Africa. That's bizarre for a species previously believed to be loners.
It's "unlike anything I have seen in working with humpback whales across the Southern Hemisphere," says study leader Ken Findlay, a marine biologist at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa.
"These are animals that normally are in groups of up to maybe three of four. To see 200 together in an area the size of a football field is remarkable." (Related: "The Rare Beauty of Dozens of Migrating Humpback Whales.")
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