Humpback Whale Trivia
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52 free Humpback Whale trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This humpback whale trivia quiz covers the most watchable whale in the sea: why its Latin name means 'big-winged New Englander', what the head bumps are for, how bubble nets work and why they count as tool use, how males build songs from units and phrases that follow Zipf's law, how far the whales migrate, why they mob orcas to protect seals, and how sharks occasionally kill them. It also covers the humpback and people: the near-extinction to 5,000 animals, the Soviet Union's hidden 48,000 kills, the 1966 IWC ban and the recovery to 135,000, Migaloo the white whale, Roger Payne's Songs of the Humpback Whale, Star Trek IV, the $20 million Hawaiian whale-watching business and the tiny endangered Arabian Sea population. Every question was verified against a primary reference (mainly the Wikipedia article on the humpback whale) and carries a citation. Play it with our blue whale, ocean and marine mammal quizzes.
30 of 52 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the humpback whale's scientific name?
Megaptera novaeangliae
Megaptera novaeangliae took time to settle: first named Balaena novaeangliae in 1781, the humpback was given a string of rival scientific names before today's pairing won out.
Q 02A humpback's two blowholes are its version of which feature of land mammals?
The nostrils
The nostrils moved to the top of the head as whales evolved; humpbacks and their closest relatives kept both openings, while dolphins and sperm whales breathe through just one.
Q 03After entering San Francisco Bay in 1985, the wayward humpback nicknamed Humphrey swam far up which river?
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River took Humphrey to a dead-end slough 69 miles from the ocean during a 26-day detour, until rescuers lured him back to sea with recordings of feeding humpbacks.
Q 04Where does the common name 'humpback' come from?
The curve of its back as it dives
The curve of its back as it dives: the whale arches steeply before going under, lifting the small hump beneath its dorsal fin clear of the water.
Q 05About how long is a typical adult humpback whale?
About 15 metres
About 15 metres: adults usually measure 14 to 15 m, and females are the bigger sex, typically growing a metre or more longer than their mates.
Q 06Which South Pacific island nation is famous for boat tours that let visitors swim with humpback whales?
Tonga
Tonga: each southern winter humpbacks gather in its sheltered waters to mate and calve, and licensed boats around Vava'u let snorkellers slip into the sea beside them.
Q 07What are the bumps on a humpback's head and flipper edges called?
Tubercles
Tubercles: the knobs on the head each hold at least one stiff hair and are rich in nerves, so they are thought to work as sensors, perhaps picking up movement in the water.
Q 08What do the bumps along a humpback's flippers do?
Boost lift and cut drag for tight turns
Boost lift and cut drag for tight turns: the bumps delay stall, so the flipper keeps working at steep angles, and engineers have copied them for fan and wind-turbine blades.
Q 09How do researchers tell individual humpbacks apart?
Colour patterns and scars on the tail flukes
Researchers photograph the colour patterns and scars on the tail flukes, which whales raise when diving; each underside is as distinctive as a fingerprint.
Q 10Scientists can tell a dead humpback's age by counting the layers in which part of its body?
Its earwax plug
Its earwax plug: wax builds up in the ear layer by layer through a whale's life, and one humpback photographed over many years showed that a new set of layers forms each year.
Q 11Which humpback behaviour involves slapping the flukes down on the water's surface?
Lobtailing
Lobtailing is slapping the tail flukes on the surface; a peduncle throw is the whole tail crashing sideways. Both may be play, communication or parasite removal.
Q 12What are the small crustacean parasites that cling to a humpback's skin commonly called?
Whale lice
Whale lice are not lice at all but pale crustaceans related to skeleton shrimp; they shelter in skin folds and wounds, and one species specialises in humpbacks.
Q 13Which humpback hunting technique has been described as a form of tool use?
Bubble nets
Bubble nets: a group circles while blowing air, trapping prey in a cylinder of bubbles, then lunges up through it with mouths wide open.
Q 21How long is a newborn humpback calf?
About 4.3 metres
About 4.3 metres at birth: the calf then nurses at its mother's side for up to a year, though it can start on solid food at about six months.
Q 22Which Disney film shows a pod of humpback whales flying up through the clouds?
Fantasia 2000
Fantasia 2000: set to Respighi's Pines of Rome, the segment follows a calf that gets trapped inside an iceberg until its mother guides it out, and the whole pod then soars into the sky.
Q 23In 1979, which magazine sent a record of humpback whale songs to all 10.5 million of its subscribers?
National Geographic
Q 14What is the term for a humpback launching most of its body out of the water?
Breaching
Breaching: a humpback can heave nearly its whole bulk clear of the sea, and researchers think the leaps may be play, courtship or a signal to other whales.
Q 15What do adult humpbacks do through the winter months they spend in tropical breeding waters?
Eat almost nothing
Eat almost nothing: humpbacks gorge in cold waters through the summer, then live off their fat reserves for months while they migrate, mate and nurse calves in the tropics.
Q 16At Stellwagen Bank, humpbacks flush out which fish by brushing their jaws along the seafloor?
Sand lances
Sand lances shelter at the bottom on Stellwagen Bank, so the whales roll onto their sides and scoop along the seafloor, mostly at night, scuffing their jaws as they go.
Q 17Wilhelmina Bay, where humpbacks crowd in each autumn to gorge on krill, lies off which continent?
Antarctica
Antarctica: in autumn 2009 researchers found humpbacks packed five to a square kilometre in the bay, resting by day and feeding all night on a krill swarm of about two million tons.
Q 18What do researchers call the male humpback that stays closest to a female and fights off rivals?
The principal escort
The principal escort stays nearest the female and fights off 'challengers'; 'secondary escorts' trail behind. Fights involve tail slashing, ramming and head-butting.
Q 19About how long is a humpback whale pregnant before giving birth?
About 1 year
About 1 year: gestation runs 11 to 12 months, timed so that a female who mates one winter in the tropics gives birth there the next.
Q 20What do humpback fetuses have that adults lack?
Teeth
Teeth: humpback fetuses grow dozens of tooth buds in the womb, but these are resorbed before birth, just as the baleen plates start to form in their place.
National Geographic's disc carried recordings made famous by biologist Roger Payne, whose whale-song album is credited with inspiring the Save the Whales campaign and helping to win a ban on commercial whaling.
Q 24Which sex of humpback sings the complex breeding-season songs?
Males
Males: only they sing the long songs, mainly on the winter breeding grounds, and researchers still debate whether the aim is to attract females, sort out rivals, or both.
Q 25Humpback whale songs appear to follow which statistical law also seen in human language?
Zipf's law
Zipf's law: a 2025 study cut eight years of song into pieces the way babies pick words out of speech, and a few pieces proved very common while most were rare, just as with words.
Q 26What do researchers call the sudden switch when a whole humpback population drops its song for a new one?
A revolution
A revolution: instead of slowly drifting, the old song is replaced wholesale, and each new version then passes east from population to population across the South Pacific like a ripple.
Q 27A 2023 study found that as humpback numbers recovered from whaling, what happened to singing?
It became less common
It became less common: as numbers rebounded, fewer whales sang and more fought rivals directly for mates, a sign that singing pays off best when whales are scarce.
Q 28Which animal is the main natural predator of humpback whales, targeting mostly juveniles?
The orca
The orca: in one study researchers logged 22 attacks on newborn humpbacks, at least 14 of them fatal, as mothers and other adults fought to drive the hunters off.
Q 29Humpbacks have been seen charging in to protect which animals from being hunted?
Seals
Seals are among ten other species humpbacks have been seen defending; in a review of 115 encounters the whales started most of the confrontations, and the hunted animal sometimes escaped.
Q 30Which shark was filmed by drone off South Africa drowning a weakened young humpback?
Great white shark
A great white shark: footage first aired in 2020 shows it biting the whale's tail, then dragging the animal under until it drowned.