He is a humpback whale tracked via satellite by Greenpeace in an effort to protect him and his friends from harpooning mainly from the Japanese whale hunters. Humpbacks are migratory who travel thousands of kilometers from their feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean (Polar waters) to the tropical South Pacific for breeding and calving in Winter.
Humpback Whale Mister Splashy Pants
According to Greenpeace, Japanese Fisheries Agency is intending to harpoon 50 humpback whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Although Japanese Government is doing this in the name of research but the whale meat is actually sold in supermarkets in Japan. This is no research – this is commercial whaling in disguise of ‘research’.
An estimated 250,000 Humpbacks were killed in 20th Century reducing the whale population by over 90% globally.
These are some of the Earth’s most magnificent creatures who love breaching (leap out of the water) and slapping the water – a kind of acrobat the whales exhibit when they surface. Humpbacks have a spectacular way of feeding where a group of whales create a ring of bubbles to encircle fish and swallow thousands of fish in one gulp. The method is known as ‘bubble net fishing’.
Mister Splashy Pants is not the only famous humpbacks, ‘Humphrey the Whale’ was one of the best known in 90s. Humpbacks can be identified individually from their varying pattern of tail flukes and can be tracked as it is in the case for Mr. Pants.
We wish success for Greenpeace’s green efforts and hope Japanese Govt. will soon stop their lethal research and let these magnificient mammals do their acrobats happily and fearlessly in Southern Ocean.