TTL_BOOK_v8 30.07.25 - Flipbook - Page 43
Humpback whales play a key role in marine ecosystems
by helping circulate nutrients throughout the ocean. An
example of this is a phenomenon known as the “whale
pump”: thanks to their massive bodies, every time they
dive deep to feed and then return to the surface to breathe,
whales stir up vital nutrients that other species rely on to
survive, and that would otherwise just sink and remain on
the seabed.
Humpback whales were almost hunted into extinction
until the implementation of a worldwide moratorium on
whaling at the end of the 1960s. At the time, the global population of humpback whales had declined by 90%, and
they were on the brink of extinction. Humpback whales
managed to bounce back and recover – and they are now
considered a species of least concern.
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