ArticleBiology letters2011
A quarter of a world away: female humpback whale moves 10,000 km between breeding areas.
Article in Biology letters, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Interbreeding area movement of an adult humpback whale between the east Pacific Ocean and southwest Indian Ocean.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Characterising resting patterns of mother-calf humpback whale groups in a semi-enclosed embayment along the Australian east coast migration pathway.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Interchange of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales across the South Atlantic Ocean.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Song recordings suggest feeding ground sharing in Southern Hemisphere humpback whales.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Toward understanding the communication in sperm whales.iScience · 2022Review
- The Southern Ocean Exchange: porous boundaries between humpback whale breeding populations in southern polar waters.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Multi-year presence of humpback whales in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean but not during El Niño.Communications biology · 2021Article
- Bowhead whales overwinter in the Amundsen Gulf and Eastern Beaufort Sea.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Large-scale spatial variabilities in the humpback whale acoustic presence in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.Royal Society open science · 2020Article
- Exploring movement patterns and changing distributions of baleen whales in the western North Atlantic using a decade of passive acoustic data.Global change biology · 2020Article
- Respiratory microbiota of humpback whales may be reduced in diversity and richness the longer they fast.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Assessing the recovery of an Antarctic predator from historical exploitation.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
- New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Culturally transmitted song exchange between humpback whales (Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Article
- Long-term passive acoustic recordings track the changing distribution of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) from 2004 to 2014.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Isotopic Evidence of a Wide Spectrum of Feeding Strategies in Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whale Baleen Records.PloS one · 2016Article
- Partial migration: growth varies between resident and migratory fish.Biology letters · 2015Article
- Seasonal migrations of North Atlantic minke whales: novel insights from large-scale passive acoustic monitoring networks.Movement ecology · 2014Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fidelity of individual animals to breeding sites is a primary determinant of population structure. The degree and scale of philopatry in a population reflect the fitness effects of social facilitation, ecological adaptation and optimal inbreeding. Patterns of breeding-site movement and fidelity are functions of social structure and are frequently sex biased. We report on a female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) first identified by natural markings off Brazil that subsequently was photographed off Madagascar. The minimum travel distance between these locations is greater than 9800 km, approximately 4000 km longer than any previously reported movement between breeding grounds, more than twice the species' typical seasonal migratory distance and the longest documented movement by a mammal. It is unexpected to find this exceptional long-distance movement between breeding groups by a female, as models of philopatry suggest that male mammals move more frequently or over longer distances in search of mating opportunities. While such movement may be advantageous, especially in changeable or unpredictable circumstances, it is not possible to unambiguously ascribe causality to this rare observation. This finding illustrates the behavioural flexibility in movement patterns that may be demonstrated within a typically philopatric species.
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