The Humpback whale is possibly the most magnificent of all living creatures, the males spend their entire lives developing love songs to court females.  Females select their mates from the quality of the singing, they are highly intelligent animals, their songs are thought to embody their cultural knowledge of the community.  Despite being banned from whale hunting for research the Japanese are continuing to hunt Humpback whales in the Antarctic for this purpose.  The number of Humpback whales alive today are about 1% of what they were 100 years ago, and any further killing of them seriously impairs this amazing animal. The AWF are launching a Humpback whale project in the breeding grounds of Sierra Leone, when the Humpback whales leave in the autumn for the Southern Antarctic they will be known to the world as individuals with their calves.  Half of all money received on this project will go to developing this research work, the other half will be donated to the Paul Watson Sea Sheppard campaign, whose ships defend the world from Japanese whalers.

The name of the Humpback whale comes from the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive. A Humpback Whale can live for 45–50 years. Adult males measure 40-48 feet (12.2-14.6 m). Adult females measure 45-50 feet (13.7-15.2 m). They weigh 25 to 40 tons (22,680-36,287 kg).

The Humpback whale’s most inventive feeding technique is called bubble net fishing. A group of Humpback whales swim rapidly in wide circles around and under a school of fish, blowing air through their blowholes and also slapping their tales on the sea floor. The bubbles form a visual barrier that serves to confine the school within an ever tighter area. One Humpback whale or sometimes more then suddenly swim upwards and through the bubble net, mouths open, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp. This technique can involve a ring of bubbles up to 30 metres in diameter and the cooperation of a dozen animals at once.

Humpback whales feed on krill, small shrimp-like crustaceans, and various kinds of small fish. Each whale eats up to 1½ tons (1,361 kg) of food a day. As the mouth closes water is expelled through the baleen plates, which trap the food on the inside near the tongue to be swallowed. Humpback whales are found in all the world's oceans, most populations of Humpback whales follow a regular migration route, summering in temperate and polar waters for feeding, and wintering in tropical waters for mating and calving.

Both males and females reach sexual maturity around the age of 6-10. Full adult maturity is achieved at around 15 years. Each female bears a calf every 2-3 years and the gestation period is 12 months. A humpback whale calf is between 10-15 feet long at birth, and weighs up to 1 ton. Competition for a mate is usually fierce. Groups of males of two to twenty in number typically gather around a single female and exhibit a variety of behaviours in order to establish dominance. The displays last several hours and the group size may change in number as unsuccessful males retreat and others arrive to try their luck. Techniques used include breaching, spy-hopping, lob-tailing, tail-slapping, flipper-slapping, charging and parrying.

Because their feeding, mating, and calving grounds are close to shore and because they are slow swimmers, the humpback whales were an easy target for early whalers. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) gave them worldwide protection status in 1966, but there were large illegal kills by the Soviets until the 1970's. It is believed they number about 30,000-40,000 at present. Estimated 97% of humpbacks were killed out in the 20th century. 

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