Humpback Whale competition pod unfolded in the waters off Surfers Paradise today as a mother and her brand new calf were also observed during another spectacular winters day of whale watching on the Gold Coast. Our morning enjoyed the company of a mother Humpback Whale and her brand new calf who were travelling with a protective male escort. The three swam as one while they moved in towards the coastline while bypassing a second pod further ahead. The local Bottlenose Dolphins were excitedly throwing around the breakfast they had found as an unfortunate fish was being shared amongst the family pod. Attention soon turned to the approaching Humpback Whales though as all of the dolphins moved towards them to meet the little calf. It was interesting to watch as the mother Humpback Whale noticed the excitable intentions of the dolphins and kept her calf close as they passed by while her male escort trumpeted loudly doing his job well as protector. The mother whale was aiming to find a good spot to rest but her male escort was getting a little too flirty each time she slowed so instead she continued onwards. The male decided to approach us instead and swam incredibly close as his curiosity was mixed with his need to act as the protective male escort to mother and calf.
Wishing them well we continued back towards the seaway and were excited to see what the afternoon would reveal. It was certainly a change of pace as after meeting a couple of relaxed escort pods of males travelling with their females a number of breaches on the horizon got our attention. A Humpback Whale competition pod had begun as two males pursued a female Humpback who was leading them on a high speed chase past the Gold Coast. Challenging the males to see who would be the fittest, strongest and smartest individual the female kept them moving at over 10+ kilometres per hour and plenty of changes of direction to not make it easy for the boys. It worked well and the male who was carrying the damaged dorsal fin from many previous competitions had the winning position closest to the female. He held that spot even after many dominant approaches and it was an incredible pod to be with travelling with so much energy and spectacular surface movement. A wonderful day out with the whales of Queensland and a joy to see the importance of competition pods and the resulting new calves the following season in the epic life story of the Australian Humpback Whale.
