By Maria Frostic

KANEOHE, HI- AUGUST 20-

In a study published today in Royal Society Open Science, researchers at the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) at UH Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) and Alaska Whale Foundation (AWF) consider a new designation of the humpback whales they study: tool wielders. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” to hunt, but they have learned that the animals donʻt just create the bubble nets; they manipulate this unique tool in a variety of ways to maximize their food intake in Alaskan feeding grounds. This novel research demystifies a behavior key to the whalesʻ survival and offers a compelling case for including humpbacks among the rare animals that manufacture and wield their own tools.

“Many animals use tools to help them find food,” explains Professor Lars Bejder, co-lead author of the study and Director of MMRP, “but very few actually create or modify these tools themselves. We discovered that solitary humpback whales in southeast (SE) Alaska craft complex bubble nets to catch krill, which are tiny shrimp-like creatures. These whales skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form nets with internal rings, actively controlling details like the number of rings, the size and depth of the net, and the spacing between bubbles. This method lets them capture up to seven times more prey in a single feeding dive without without using extra energy. This impressive behavior places humpback whales among the rare group of animals that both make and use their own tools for hunting.”

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