Humpback whale

It is a marine, diurnal invertivore whose main food is zooplankton, and its trophic level is carnivore. It has 1 young per litter and 0.5 litters per year after a gestation period of 348.8 days, and the IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern, not a threatened category.

Weight

30 t – 45 tsrc for Weight

Length

4.5 m – 18 msrc for Length

Lifespan

45 years – 86 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Invertivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

95 years

Main food

zooplanktonsrc for Main food

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

349 days – 365 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

1src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

3.99 years – 4.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

0.5src for Litters or clutches a year

Reproduction

Live birthsrc for Reproduction

Active

By day (diurnal)src for Active

Lifestyle

Marinesrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Migratorysrc for Migration

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The humpback whale is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderCetacea
5. familyBalaenopteridae
6. genusMegaptera
7. SpeciesMegaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)

Synonyms Balaena allamack, Balaena atlanticus, Balaena boops, Balaena gibbosa, Balaena lalandii, Balaena longimana, Balaena nodosa, Balaena novae angliae, Balaena novaeangliae, Balaena sulcata antarctica, Balaenoptera antarctica, Balaenoptera astrolabe, Balaenoptera australis, Balaenoptera capensis, Balaenoptera leucopteron, Balaenoptera syncondylus, Kyphobalaena keporkak, Megaptera americana, Megaptera antarctica, Megaptera australis, Megaptera bellicosa, Megaptera boops, Megaptera brasiliensis, Megaptera braziliensis, Megaptera burmeisteri, Megaptera gigas, Megaptera indica, Megaptera kusira, Megaptera kuzira, Megaptera lalandii, Megaptera lalandii, Megaptera longimana, Megaptera longimana, Megaptera longimana morei, Megaptera longipinna, Megaptera nodosa, Megaptera nodosa, Megaptera nodosa, Megaptera nodosa bellicosa, Megaptera nodosa lalandii, Megaptera nodosa nodosa, Megaptera nodosa nodosa, Megaptera nodosa novaezealandiae, Megaptera novaeangliae australis, Megaptera novaeangliae kuzira, Megaptera novaeangliae kuzira, Megaptera novaeangliae novaeangliae, Megaptera novaeangliea, Megaptera novaezelandiae, Megaptera osphya, Megaptera osphya, Megaptera poescop, Megaptera versabilis, Poescopia lalandii, Rorqualus antarcticus, Rorqualus australis

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

EN, Endangered

Blue whale

Balaenoptera musculus

Balaenopteridae

VU, Vulnerable

Fin whale

Balaenoptera physalus

Balaenopteridae

EN, Endangered

Sei whale

Balaenoptera borealis

Balaenopteridae

LC, Least Concern

Common minke whale

Balaenoptera acutorostrata

Balaenopteridae

B

Bryde's whale

Balaenoptera omurai

BalaenopteridaeNo free photo yet

NT, Near Threatened

Antarctic minke whale

Balaenoptera bonaerensis

Balaenopteridae

CompareHumpback whale vs Blue whaleHumpback whale vs Fin whaleHumpback whale vs Sei whaleHumpback whale vs Common minke whale

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{humpback_whale_2026,
  title = {Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/humpback-whale},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}