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Whales' Epic 9,000-Mile Journeys Revealed
21 May
Summary
- Two humpback whales traveled over 8,800 miles between Australia and Brazil.
- These journeys represent the longest recorded distances between whale sightings.
- Such movements aid whale population genetic diversity and cultural song spread.
Research published recently has revealed that two humpback whales completed extraordinary migrations, traveling between the eastern shores of Australia and breeding grounds off Brazil. These journeys represent the longest distances ever recorded between two documented sightings of the same whale, with one individual covering approximately 8,823 miles.
These findings emerged from an analysis of nearly 20,000 photographs contributed by scientists and the public between 1984 and 2025. An automated image-recognition algorithm identified two whales appearing on opposite sides of the world, one seen in Queensland in 2007 and later near Sao Paulo in 2019, and another spotted in Brazil before appearing in Australia.
Scientists emphasize that while rare, such vast movements are crucial for the long-term health of whale populations. They help maintain genetic diversity across different breeding grounds and can even facilitate the cultural spread of whale song styles. This phenomenon lends support to the 'Southern Ocean Exchange' hypothesis.
The 'Southern Ocean Exchange' theory suggests whales may travel to Antarctic feeding grounds and then return to different breeding areas, a behavior possibly becoming more frequent due to climate-driven changes in the Antarctic ecosystem, such as shifts in sea ice and krill distribution.
