Migration redefined? Seasonality, movements, and group composition of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae off the west coast of South Africa

摘要

The migration of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales between their feeding and breeding areas has thus farbeen considered a highly predictable and seasonal event. However, previous observations on the humpbacks thatpass through the near-shore waters of the west coast of South Africa have revealed deviations from thebehaviour and seasonality expected during a typical migration. This “anomaly” is hypothesised to be associatedwith prey availability in the region. Shore-based observations between July 2001 and February 2003 from NorthHead, Saldanha Bay yielded relative abundances that again did not support a classical migration pattern, withthe highest sighting rates from mid-spring through summer. Movement parameters (actual swimming speed,direction and linearity) of humpback groups tracked by theodolite showed mid-spring to be a turning point intheir behaviour, after which we observed a significant reduction in actual swimming speed, an increase in ‘non11directional’ movement, and a distribution further from shore than in other seasons. Additional data on groupcomposition and sex collected between 1993 and 2008, showed a significantly female-biased sex ratio duringmid-spring, the first such recorded for any region. Direct observation of feeding on crustacean prey duringspring and summer months further supports the notion that humpbacks may have more flexible foraging habitsthan previously appreciated, and that the Southern Benguela upwelling region may function as an importantfeeding area for these whales.