SOME whales love mountains. New Caledonian humpbacks migrating between their breeding and feeding grounds pull over for days on end in waters around underwater mountains 鈥� though no one yet knows why.
It could be that they use them as navigation cues, or spots for feeding or breeding activities, such as singing by males, say Claire Garrigue and her team at Op茅ration C茅tac茅s in Noum茅a, New Caledonia. They tracked 34 whales migrating between New Caledonia and Antarctica using satellite tags (Royal Society Open Science, ).
鈥淢aybe they stop there to relax and to rest a little bit because they have lots of miles to go to Antarctica,鈥� she says.
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淲hales seem to like mountaineering鈥�