Macquarie University study links humpback whale gaping to social display

6 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 10

Using citizen-science and social media footage of 66 whales off Western Australia and along migration routes, researchers found jaw-gaping occurred where humpbacks are often fasting rather than feeding.
The paper says gaping lacks the acceleration, prey capture and throat expansion of lunge feeding, and may involve play, signalling, debris interaction or calves stretching their jaws.
The findings arrive as Australia's whale migration begins and rescue groups warn of rising entanglement and vessel-strike risks, urging people and craft to keep legally required distances.

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