Humpback Whale

1. Humpback Whale

2. Species Profile Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetacea Family: Balaenopteridae Genius: Megaptera Species: Novaeangliae Common Name: Humpback Whale Scientific Name: Megaptera Novaeangliae

3. Habitat & Population Where can Humpback Whales be found? • They are found in all of the world’s oceans. • There usually found near shore and island habitats for feeding and breeding. Type of System: • Aquatic – Humpback whales are found in the ocean because there not land species. The population of Humpback Whales decreased 7% from 1990-2002. Today, there are only around 30,000- 40,000 Humpback whales remaining in the world.

4. Major Threats • Illegal Whaling • Loss of Habitat • Extinction

5. Illegal Whaling Illegal Whaling is hunting whales. If people continue to hunt whales one day whales will come to an extinction. Whaling is common in a lot of different regions, but most illegal whaling seems to be occurring in Japan. The Japanese don’t believe that whaling is illegal but instead they consider this to be a part of their heritage. The reason why the Japanese hunt whales is because they don’t think that the meat obtained from whales should be wasted. Not only the Japanese but also many other regions hunt whales to consume whale meat. But hunting whales is now considered to be illegal in mostly all parts of the countries.

6. Loss Of Habitat Many Humpback whales are going extinct because there loosing their habitat. Not only whales go extinct because of the loss of their habitat but any animal is bond to die if its moved from its habitat. The loss of a whales habitat relates to illegal whaling. Whales travel towards the warmer areas of the water to give birth, and travel towards the colder areas of water for feeding. But when whales are constantly being moved by humans from one part of the world to another. They eventually start to loose the strength that they once had, and eventually they die. Whales are moved out of their natural habitat to facilities that humans can visit and see these animals. By doing that we’re taking away their natural habitat, a place that’s healthier for them and where there better off at.

7. Extinction In 1960 it was first realized that Humpback whales were near extinction. Humpback whales are one of those interesting species that are beautiful to look at, but because of pollution and many other actions done by humans we’re going to come across a day where we won’t see any more Humpback whales.

8. Classification Map • The phylum of a humpback whale is chordata. • Humpback whales are one of the many animals that fall under this category. • Chordata is comprising all animals that have or have had, in their life a hollow dorsal nerve cord. • That is why a humpback whale is categorized as a chordata along with: • 3 other organisms that are also found under this phylum are dolphins, zebras, and penguins. • These organisms also have an notochord.

9. Personal Response Biodiversity is very important. Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. Biodiversity is the study of all living things. One reason why biodiversity is important is because if there’s a larger number of plants, that means there’s more crops and vegetables for us. All living things contribute to how the Earth is shaped, in one way or another. Biodiversity means healthy ecosystems and in result there would be recovery from many disasters. If we take care of our planet we’re going to notice great results in nature. This is important because then we have fresh vegetables and crops which provide lots of vitamins for us, then we’ll also have these goods for ourselves and they can be imported into other countries to make a profit, which will help our economy.

10. Biodiversity isn’t only an important thing for our economy, but also it provides us the chance to get away from the busy urban existence. Nature and living species provide beauty on Earth. These species play a big role on Earth, and the beauty of biodiversity sets us free from our busy everyday lives to see what’s around us. Biodiversity is important because it gives us the opportunity to explore things just within our community. We get to learn about the different species and it opens our eyes to realize that there is more to nature then we think there is.

11. Biodiversity is important for many different reasons, but a few reasons it’s important for humans is because it provides drinkable water. A lot of people wonder what water has to do with biodiversity. But if it wasn’t for biodiversity we wouldn’t have clean water. Around the world, forests filter the useable water over and over again. That helps replenish the water we use every day for things such as bathing, growing crops, and drinking. Also because of biodiversity we’re able to breathe air. This relates to biodiversity because plants take carbon dioxide out of the air and put oxygen into it. This is Important because almost every living thing needs oxygen to breathe. Also if it wasn’t for biodiversity we wouldn’t have warm clothes and a home to live in, because timber and many other forest products are used to provide shelter for us and fiber is used to make warm clothing for us. We may not notice it, but if we take the time to look at all the little roles species and living organisms play on Earth, we’ll realize that biodiversity has a huge impact on Earth.

12. Consequences If humpback whales went extinct: • We would loose one of the biggest living species in water • All the fish that the whales consume will over populate the ocean. This will have an effect on the food cycle because there will be more fish which means there will be less amount of species that are consumed by fish as well. • Also the first animal that developed a language would be gone • If Humpback whales were to go extinct it will greatly have an affect on humans because not only are we loosing an incredible species but we won’t get the chance to have the knowledge to learn more about these species.