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To look up into the mountains and see the steam rolling from a mountain stream

on a cold winters morning is a beautiful sight. However, to look out over the horizon and

see the white spray of salt water coming from the blow of a huge hump-back whale is

much more exciting sight and a whole lot warmer. I lived in the mountains of Colorado

for most of my childhood. The first time I had the opportunity to see the ocean was on a

vacation to California, when I was about 15 years old. It was even better than I had

dreamed it would be. The different animals in the ocean, the color of the water, and the

warm sand between my toes was probably what led me to come to the islands of Hawaii.

When I first saw the hump-back whale I was amazed at their huge size and how they could

breach out of the water so gracefully. It is as if they were trying to play or show off. So

when we were asked to choose a favorite animal, I had no problem deciding on the hump-

back whale.

The hump-back whale gets it’s name from the distinctive hump in front of the

dorsal fin and from the way it raises it’s back high above water before diving. They are a

member of the order Cetacea. This order is of aquatic mammals and the hump-back

belongs to the suborder of the Mysticeti. The Mysticeti are the baleen whales which have

three families and several species. The family in which the hump-back belongs is the

Balaenopteridae, the true fin backed whale. The thing that separates this genus from the

other fin-backed whales is the pectoral fins, which grow in lengths of about 5 meters (16.4

feet). This Genus is called Megaptera meaning great wing (Tinker 290). There was a

controversy over the species...