Talk:Humpback whale

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Humpback whale article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1

Humpback whale is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on October 15, 2004.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
June 29, 2004	Featured article candidate	Promoted
April 25, 2007	Featured article review	Kept

Current status: Featured article

Cetaceans (inactive)

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Cetaceans, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.CetaceansWikipedia:WikiProject CetaceansTemplate:WikiProject CetaceansCetaceans articles

Caribbean: Dominican Republic Low‑importance

	Caribbean portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Caribbean, an attempt to build a comprehensive guide to the countries of the Caribbean on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. If you are new to editing Wikipedia visit the welcome page to become familiar with the guidelines.CaribbeanWikipedia:WikiProject CaribbeanTemplate:WikiProject CaribbeanCaribbean articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Dominican Republic portal This article is supported by WikiProject Dominican Republic (assessed as High-importance).

Japan: Flora and fauna / Food and drink Low‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Japan, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Japan-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project, participate in relevant discussions, and see lists of open tasks. Current time in Japan: 18:09, April 27, 2024 (JST, Reiwa 6) (Refresh)JapanWikipedia:WikiProject JapanTemplate:WikiProject JapanJapan-related articles

Low

This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

This article is supported by the Flora and fauna task force.

This article is supported by the Food and drink task force.

WikiProject Japan to do list:

Peer review: Kako River (Japan)
A-class review: None

Featured content candidates –

Articles: None
Pictures: None
Lists: None

Good article nominations: Pure Japanese, Vinland Saga (TV series), Japanese destroyer Ume (1944), Mai Fujisawa, Godzilla Minus One
Add requested images to articles that need them.
Pages for Deletion: Participate in Japan-related deletion discussions.
Improve and expand Japan-related stubs.
Create some requested articles.
Help translate an article from the Japanese Wikipedia into English.
Assess unassessed articles

United States: Massachusetts / Cape Cod and the Islands Low‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Massachusetts portal This article is supported by WikiProject Massachusetts (assessed as Low-importance).
	Massachusetts portal This article is supported by WikiProject Massachusetts - Cape Cod and the Islands (assessed as Low-importance).

Mammals Mid‑importance

	Mammals portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mammals, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of mammal-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MammalsWikipedia:WikiProject MammalsTemplate:WikiProject Mammalsmammal articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Marine life High‑importance

This article is part of WikiProject Marine life, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use resource on marine life. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. This project is an offshoot of the WikiProject Tree of Life.Marine lifeWikipedia:WikiProject Marine lifeTemplate:WikiProject Marine lifeMarine life articles

High

This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Marine life To do:

Have a look at the Marine life WikiProject and sign up.

Here are some tasks you can do, as organized by The Marine life Wikiproject:

Collaboration of the week: Marine life article assessment
Other: See the projects page
Images: Upload any non-copyrighted marine life images to Wikimedia Commons
Featured Articles/Good Articles:
Other: Add {{Portal|Marine life}} to related articles

Spoken Wikipedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles that are spoken on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Spoken WikipediaWikipedia:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaTemplate:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaSpoken Wikipedia articles

This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Kathy Carvajal (July 28, 2009). "Dead Whale Buried at Beach". WNYW.

Article issues[edit]

Unlike other FA, this article needs help including GA Sperm whale, but this is far worst. 2001:4455:1A9:E100:58ED:9A2:3A1A:9A5C (talk) 11:45, 1 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Article should be sent into FAR, it still needs some cleanup and contains a lot of ^{[citation needed]}. 2001:4455:364:A800:64F3:4255:1433:C28 (talk) 02:51, 27 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Featured article review needed[edit]

Listed at WP:FARGIVEN by IP above. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:10, 27 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Didn't see this notice. I'll do some improving this weekend. LittleJerry (talk) 14:42, 3 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

SandyGeorgia but I'd like to add that the IP doesn't elaborate on anything aside from the cite notes. LittleJerry (talk) 00:08, 4 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but since it's an IP, I don't know how to commmunicate. If you are able to do some cleanup, ping me and I will have a look. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:29, 4 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Will do more tonight or tomorrow. LittleJerry (talk) 16:45, 6 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

SandyGeorgia, mostly done with the cleanup but I listed it for a copyedit. LittleJerry (talk) 00:41, 22 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't followed closely, but have kept it watchlisted and see that, wow, this article gets clobbered by random IP edits. Please ping me when copyedit is done, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:46, 22 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

SandyGeorgia, ready. LittleJerry (talk) 12:03, 8 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Pending revisions[edit]

@Casliber and LittleJerry: is pending revisions sufficient for the protection on this Featured article? Since LittleJerry started working, I've kept the article watchlisted, and a pending revision is popping up almost daily. LittleJerry, is semi-protection needed? Are the IP edits generally helpful or are they poor quality? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:32, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

That was me, I forgot to log into my account. LittleJerry (talk) 15:33, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Ah ha! Thanks :) SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:45, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Most of the time I find Pending Changes more trouble than it's worth. Some of the IP edits are for helpful links though. It depends how one weighs the attractiveness of being able to edit vs time consumed reviewing. I'd be inclined (weakly) to leave as is though would have no problem with semiprotection Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 22:59, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If LittleJerry is happy with the level, no prob leaving it. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:52, 26 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestion re: section on feeding behaviour, include other feeding strategies[edit]

Now it only mentions bubble‑net feeding, suggesting that's the only foraging technique humpback whales use (though one of the most interesting, of course!)

"Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) as a species are generalist predators that are known to exhibit a wide variety of foraging strategies. These include lunge-feeding (e.g., Jurasz and Jurasz 1979), bubble-net-feeding (e.g., Jurasz and Jurasz 1979, D’Vincent et al. 1985, Sharpe2001), ﬂick-feeding (Jurasz and Jurasz 1979, Ford 2014), bottom-feeding (Hain et al. 1995), and lobtail‑feeding (Weinrich et al. 1992)." [1]

Now also with the novel (or not so novel: [2]), recently observed foraging strategy of trap‑feeding, vis the links to the papers.

Apologies – I am not a biologist, so I would not dare to edit a Featured level‑4 Biology article myself, just making a suggestion for possible improvement.

Technicality nitpicker (talk) 10:27, 3 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestion, Humpbacks actively protecting humans from sharks and sealions from sharks and/or orcas[edit]

Very fascinating behavior that's worth adding as there are multiple instances

"Hauser was pushed around by the whale for nearly 10 minutes, as the whale also used its head and mouth to keep her away from the shark. The whale even lifts Hauser out of the water at one point.

Once Hauser spotted the shark she realized what the whale was doing and tried to stay calm to not startle the whale. As Hauser returns to the safety of her research boat, she informs her team of the shark and the whale surfaces again to check on her." https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/humpback-whale-protects-marine-biologist-from-tiger-shark-video

At first it seemed like the usual, deviously clever attack. Several killer whales were trying to catch a Weddell seal that had taken refuge atop a drifting patch of Antarctic ice. The orcas swam alongside each other, creating a wave that knocked the hapless pinniped into the water. Death seemed certain.

Then something amazing happened: A pair of humpback whales turned up. As the panicked seal swam toward them, a lucky wave tossed it onto the chest of the closer, upturned whale. The whale arched its chest out of the water, which kept the seal away from the charging killer whales. And when the seal started to fall off, the whale carefully pushed it back onto its chest with a flipper. Soon after that, the seal scrambled to safety on another ice floe.https://www.science.org/content/article/why-did-humpback-whale-just-save-seals-life

https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/inspire/life/why-humpback-whales-protect-other-species-from-killer-whales NotBond007 (talk) 12:46, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]