The family drama you see playing out here in the Pacific Ocean near Maui, Hawaii, is a humpback whale calf getting a little nudge from its mom. She presumably wants the sleepy youngster to practice surfacing, something these amazing marine mammals are famous for doing in dramatic fashion. Winter is calving season for the Hawaiian population of humpbacks. Thousands arrive from their feeding grounds in the North Pacific to swim and breed in the warm Hawaiian waters, making them a common sight from November until April. Because they"re known to hang around near the ocean"s surface, breaching or slapping the water with their tails, humpbacks are a favorite of whale watchers everywhere.
A whale of a picture
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Patriot Day
-
Yosemite National Park turns 132
-
That s quite a schnoz, baby tapir
-
Tintern Abbey, Wales
-
Badlands National Park turns 44
-
Valentines Day
-
The rainbow connection
-
Let s get lost
-
San Blas Islands, Panama
-
Reflections on the mighty Amazon
-
In the path of the pronghorn
-
The eloquence of elephants
-
It s International Jazz Day
-
The Guggenheim Bilbao turns 25
-
Village of Labro, Italy
-
World Meteorological Day
-
Everybody loves World Turtle Day
-
Ingenuity in action on the Santa Monica Pier
-
A stroll above the stratosphere
-
Happy Thanksgiving!
-
A long winter’s nap, perhaps?
-
Happy Presidents Day
-
Celebrating Panama s independence
-
A water loch-ed castle
-
Inhale and exhale, it’s Yoga Day
-
Incense making, Vietnam
-
You re feeling sleepy
-
Deep in the North Woods wetlands
-
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
-
Flocking together in the Antarctic