A 23-year-old Venezuelan kayaker, Adrián Simancas, was briefly engulfed by a humpback whale while kayaking in the Strait of Magellan, Chile.

• The whale likely mistook the kayak for prey and accidentally engulfed Simancas before releasing him unharmed within seconds.

About Whales 

• A whale is any of the larger species of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Cetacea.
• The term whale can be used in reference to any cetacean, including porpoises and dolphins, but in general it is applied to those more than 3 metres (10 feet) long.

Classification of Whales

Whales belong to two main families based on their feeding mechanisms:

• Baleen Whales : Includes species such as blue whales, humpback whales, and grey whales.
  • These whales use baleen plates to filter-feed on krill, plankton, and small fish.
• Toothed Whales : Includes species such as sperm whales, beaked whales, killer whales, and dolphins. 
  • They have teeth but do not chew; instead, they swallow their prey whole.

Can Whales Swallow Humans?

• Baleen Whales: Despite having large mouths, baleen whales have narrow throats, preventing them from swallowing large objects, including humans.
  • A humpback whale’s throat is roughly the size of a human fist, making it impossible to swallow a person.
• Toothed Whales: Toothed whales have a larger oesophagus than baleen whales, allowing them to swallow larger prey.
  • However, even toothed whales cannot swallow an entire human due to the size limitations of their throats.
• Exception: Sperm whales are the only whales with throats large enough to swallow a human.
  • However, such occurrences are extremely rare due to limited human-whale encounters and the species’s deep-sea habitat.

About Humpback Whales

• Physical Characteristics: The humpback whale is named for the distinctive hump on its back. It has long pectoral fins, inspiring its scientific name Megaptera, meaning “big-winged”.
  • Female humpback whales are larger than males.
• Distribution and Migration: Humpback whales are found in all oceans worldwide.
  • They undertake one of the longest migrations of any mammal, traveling between polar feeding grounds in summer and tropical or subtropical breeding grounds in winter.
• Unique Feeding Technique: Humpback whales use bubble net feeding, a specialized technique where they exhale bubbles in a spiral pattern beneath dense patches of prey, trapping fish for efficient feeding.
• Conservation Status
  • IUCN Red List: Least Concern.
  • CITES: Listed in Appendix I, indicating strict protection against exploitation.
• Behavior and Communication
• • Breaching : Humpback whales frequently leap out of the water and crash back down, possibly for communication or parasite removal.
  • Singing: Male humpback whales produce long, complex songs believed to play a role in mate attraction.

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