Talk:Humpback Whale

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Below is a copy of the comments on FAC. Whilst "official" comments remain unmolested at fac, I'm feeling at liberty to refactor this copy to make it easier to see what needs to be done and to add my own comments. (Sorry for using a talk page as something akin to a personal scratchpad!)

• Supporters: David Gerard, Gtrmp (Sean Curtin), Meelar

• Qualified support: Exploding Boy wants
  • External links - This is a reasonable request and should be possible - DONE
  • Querying capitalization - I think it is ok to let this one slide. - PASSED OVER.

• Objectors: Matt dillhole
  • Whale song - DONE.
  • Full view image - Perhaps the most crucial missing element. DONE.
  • Facts - behaviour - Valid - Need to write the separate article - too many other species have similar behaviour to put it here. - DONE what needs to be done here. Other article TO BE DONE.
  • Facts - feeding - We already talk about feeding - probably more can be said without getting too tedious - DONE
  • Facts - size of body parts - Yeah maybe, an image would perhaps be better though. - DONE
  • Talk about the major studies of these whales - who are the key players etc. This might be a little dull but I think necessary to round out the article. - DONE.

• sj
  • Evolution - Good point - Humpbacks are in their own family - was it always thus? DONE.
  • Image descriptions - Good point - DONE.
  • Social groups - Good point - DONE.
  • Intermixing with other species - Need to research what is known - DONE
  • Intermixing with humans - Mention curiousity about boats - protective behaviour of mother - DONE
  • Historical perspective - Suggestion is that we are too top-heavy with the whaling and in particular emphasising the numerical aspect rather than human side. DONE (to the extent that I am able)
  • Who studies these whales - tie with Matt's last above. - DONE

• mav
  • Whole animal image - DONE.
  • Feeding - DONE.
  • Parenting - DONE.
  • Mating - DONE.
  • Evolution - DONE.
  • Ecological niche - I don't know the answer to this - TO BE DONE?

Pcb21| Pete 13:10, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

The article was later featured. Pcb21| Pete 14:14, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Would someone tell me why "Humpback Whale" is capitalized throughout this article? (I attempted to fix this overcapitalization, but someone else reversed the changes.) PittBill 15:49, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Oh, never mind. I found the relevant article on capitalizing species names. PittBill 16:00, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Map 2 Image queue 3 Megaptera band 4 Intelligence 5 Image switch 6 Why "Humpback"? 7 Whaling 8 Bumps and Barnacles? 9 Citation Needed for Research Anecdote

[edit] Map

I think a lot of what I've put at Talk:Blue Whale also applies here too (e.g. Humpback Whale is a major rarity in the North Sea, maybe one every few years, and does it ever enter the Baltic Sea?) - anyone care to comment? - MPF 00:36, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC) As far as I remember whales (I think only small ones) enter the baltic sea by accident and don't find the exit again, and die because of the lower salt conditions in the baltic sea.

As you were saying, if a whale (of any kind) is found in the Baltic sea it has most likely wandered off there in error and will have a difficult time getting out again. The English wikipedia has an erroneous map. See this article in any other language for reference, i.e. Swedish, German, Norwegian... --212.209.190.192 11:23, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image queue

This image was removed from the article, presumably because there are too many images for low resolution screens? Keeping here in a queue. Pcb21| Pete 07:08, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Megaptera band

There also is a band named Megaptera, but Megaptera redirects here. Somebody should do something about that. --82.79.53.16 14:52, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Intelligence

The text as it stands currently reads, "Their analysis of the whale song led to worldwide media interest in the species, and left an impression in the public mind that whales were a highly intelligent species. This impression is probably incorrect (see cetacean intelligence), but is probably a contributing factor to the anti-whaling stance of many countries."

However, the article on cetacean intelligence includes no such information. It seems to mostly be about dolphins rather than whales, does not seem to give much particular impression about dolphins not being highly intelligent, and has no information about the whale song. Should the "probably incorrect" commentary be removed, or is there some other source it could point to? Revkat 09:07, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image switch

I switched the images because I could barely see a whale in the original image at the top. Although the original shows the power of a whale, a more accurate picture would be that of a whale while being able to discern its details. Silverleaftree 06:15, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why "Humpback"?

Can someone add an explanation for why it is called "humpback"? Presumably this refers to its anatomy, though this is just a guess. A-giau 10:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

The Humpback whales arch their backs into the "hump" shape shown in the article when diving deep from the surface, giving them the name "Humpback", most other whales tend to simply sink down under the water.

[edit] Whaling

Hi just wondering why there aren't any references to Japan in the issue of Whaling? Japan has been calling for the 20-year ban on commercial whaling to be scrapped. There is a real danger that in the near future they will be successful in their campaign, see the following News papers report for recent revelations on Japan's "Aid" to Pro-whaling countries [1].

[edit] Bumps and Barnacles?

Was wondering what the encrustations that you often see on the nose and head of humpbacks are? Are they barnacles or parasites of some kind? Or bone structures? --Corinthian 21:41, 14 December 2006 (UTC)>

[edit] Citation Needed for Research Anecdote

At the end of the Research section is the following:

"One researcher was once approached while observing the whales underwater from far off, the whale came over, and gently nudged the researcher with one of it fins and pushed him towards its eye to get a better look at the human."

This paragraph consists of a single run-on sentence. It is vague, anecdotal, and it seems made up. If this anecdote is true, it needs to be cited and rewritten using specific details and proper sentence structure; otherwise it should be removed.

146.145.138.79 22:18, 21 February 2007 (UTC) rcl