Humpback whale breaks migration record

A whale surprises researchers with her journey. 

A lone humpback whale travelled more than  9,800 kilometres from breeding areas in Brazil to  those in Madagascar, setting a record for the  longest mammal migration ever documented. 

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)  are known to have some of the longest migration  distances of all mammals, and this huge journey  is about 400 kilometres farther than the previous  humpback record. The finding was made by  Peter Stevick, a biologist at the College of the  Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. 

The whale’s journey was unusual not only for its  length, but also because it travelled across  almost 90 degrees of longitude from west to  east. Typically, humpbacks move in a north— south direction between cold feeding areas and  warm breeding grounds — and the longest  journeys which have been recorded until now  have been between breeding and feeding sites. 

The whale, a female, was first spotted off the  coast of Brazil, where researchers photographed  its tail fluke and took skin samples for  chromosome testing to determine the animal’s  sex. Two years later, a tourist on a whale watching boat snapped a photo of the humpback  near Madagascar. 

To match the two sightings, Stevick’s team used  an extensive international catalogue of  photographs of the undersides of tail nukes,  which have distinctive markings. Researchers  routinely compare the markings in each new  photograph to those in the archive.

The scientists then estimated the animal’s shortest possible route: an arc skirting the  southern tip of South Africa and heading north east towards Madagascar. The minimum  distance is 9,800 kilometres, says Stevick, but  this is likely to be an underestimate, because the  whale probably took a detour to feed on krill in  the Southern Ocean near Antarctica before  reaching its destination.

Most humpback-whale researchers focus their efforts on the Northern  Hemisphere because the Southern Ocean near  the Antarctic is a hostile environment and it is  hard to get to, explains Rochelle Constantine,  who studies the ecology of humpback whales at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. But,  for whales, oceans in the Southern Hemisphere  are wider and easier to travel across, says  Constantine. Scientists will probably observe  more long-distance migrations in the Southern  Hemisphere as satellite tracking becomes  increasingly common, she adds. 

Daniel Palacios, an oceanographer at the  University of Hawaii at Manoa, says that the  record-breaking journey could indicate that  migration patterns are shifting as populations  begin to recover from near-extinction and the  population increases. But the reasons why the  whale did not follow the usual migration routes  remain a mystery. She could have been exploring  new habitats, or simply have lost her way. ‘We  generally think of humpback whales as very well  studied, but then they surprise us with things like  this,’ Palacios says. ‘Undoubtedly there are a lot  of things we still don’t know about whale  migration,’ 

The honey badger 

It looks harmless and vulnerable. But the honey  badger is afraid of nothing… and will attack and  eat almost anything 

The honey badger (Melivora capensis), is an  African and south-Asian mammal that has a  reputation for being one of the world’s most  fearless animals, despite its small size. And in  spite of its gentle-sounding name, it is also one of  its most aggressive. 

Honey badgers have been known to attack lions,  buffalo, and snakes three times their size. Even  humans are not safe from a honey badger if it  thinks the human will attack or harm it. They are  also extremely tough creatures, and can recover  quickly from injuries that would kill most other  animals. 

At first glance, honey badgers look like the  common European badger. They are usually  between 75cm and 1 metre long, although males  are about twice the size of females. They are  instantly recognisable by grey and white stripes  that extend from the top of the head to the tail.  Closer inspection, which is probably not a wise  thing to do, reveals pointed teeth, and sharp front  claws which can be four centimetres in length. 

Honey badgers are meat-eating animals with an  extremely varied diet. They mainly eat a range of  small creatures like beetles, lizards and birds, but  will also catch larger reptiles like snakes and  small crocodiles. Some mammals, such as foxes,  antelope and wild cats also form part of their diet. 

The badgers locate their prey mainly using their  excellent sense of smell, and catch most of their  prey through digging. During a 24- hour period,  

they may dig as many as fifty holes, and travel  more than 40 kilometres. They are also good  climbers, and can easily climb very tall trees to  steal eggs from birds’ nests, or catch other tree dwelling creatures. As their name suggests,  honey badgers have always been associated with  honey, although they do not actually eat it. It is the highly nutritious bee eggs (called ‘brood’) that they  prefer, and they will do anything to find it. They  usually cause a lot of damage to the hive in the  process, and for this reason, humans are one of their main predators. Bee-keepers will often set  special traps for honey badgers, to protect their  hives. One of the most fascinating aspects of the  honey badger is its working relationship with a  bird called the greater honeyguide (Indicator  indicator). This bird deliberately guides the badger  to beehives, then waits while the badger breaks  into the hive and extracts the brood. The two  creatures, bird and mammal, then share the brood  between them.

On the trail of the honey badger 

Researchers learn more about this fearless  African predator 

On a recent field trip to the Kalahari Desert, a  team of researchers learnt a lot more about  honey badgers. They were rewarded with a detailed insight into how these fascinating  creatures live and hunt 

The team employed a local wildlife expert, Kitso  Khama, to help them locate and follow the  badgers across the desert. Their main aim was  to study the badgers’ movements and behaviour  as discreetly as possible, without frightening  them away or causing them to change their  natural behaviour. They also planned to trap a  few and study them close up before releasing  them. In view of the animal’s reputation, this  was something that even Khama was reluctant  to do. 

‘The problem with honey badgers is they are  naturally curious animals, especially when they  see something new,’ he says, ‘That, combined  with their unpredictable nature, can be a  dangerous mixture. If they sense you have food,  for example, they won’t be shy about coming right  UP to you for something to eat. They’re actually quite sociable creatures around humans, but as  soon as they feel they might be in danger, they  can become extremely vicious. Fortunately this is  rare, but it does happen.’ 

The research confirmed many things that were  already known. As expected, honey badgers ate  any creatures they could catch and kill. Even  poisonous snakes, feared and avoided by most  other animals, were not safe from them. The  researchers were surprised, however, by the  animal’s fondness for local melons, probably  because of their high water content. Previously  researchers thought that the animal80t all of its  liquid requirements from its prey. The team also  learnt that, contrary to previous research findings,  the badgers occasionally formed loose family  groups. They were also able to confirm certain results from previous research, including the fact  that female badgers never socialised with each  other. 

Following some of the male badgers was a  challenge, since they can cover large distances in  a short space of time. Some hunting territories cover more than 500 square kilometres. Although  they seem happy to share these territories with  other males, there are occasional fights over an  important food source, and male badgers can be  as aggressive towards each other as they are  towards other species. 

As the badgers became accustomed to the  presence of people, it gave the team the chance  to get up close to them without being the subject of the animals’ curiosity – or their sudden  aggression. The badgers’ eating patterns, which  had been disrupted, returned to normal- It also allowed the team to observe more closely some of  the other creatures that form working associations  with the honey badger, as these seemed to adopt  the badgers’ relaxed attitude when near humans.