Humpback Whale Sex Observed for the First Time Ever, between Two Males
Photographers captured a healthy male humpback penetrating a weaker individual in the first record of humpback whale sex
Each year humpback whales travel thousands of miles from their polar feeding grounds to the tropical waters where they mate, give birth and nurse their calves. But despite the breeding season attracting tourists and scientists from around the world, sexual behavior among humpback whales had never been documented—until now.
And the world’s first photographs of humpback whales copulating are even more groundbreaking because both individuals were male.
The surprising images, published this week in a paper in Marine Mammal Science, were recorded by chance. In January 2022 Lyle Krannichfeld and Brandi Romano—two photographers based on the Hawaiian island of Maui—saw something strange. Two whales slowly swam toward their boat. Whale B kept approaching Whale A from behind, holding on with his pectoral fins and copulating with Whale A; each penetration lasted for less than two minutes.
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The photographers knew sexual activity between humpbacks had never been scientifically observed or documented. But when they approached Stephanie Stack, a researcher at the Pacific Whale Foundation, for confirmation of what they’d seen, she noticed something else: “I said, ‘Oh, it doesn’t look like a female whale,’” says Stack, the new paper’s lead author.
Whale B had inserted his penis into Whale A’s genital…
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