Dear Friends,

Hello, I would like to introduce myself and tell you about me and my life. My name is Baloo and I am a whale. I am a humpback whale. I live in Antarctica. My home is located at the bottom of the Earth. It surrounds the South Pole. It is the fifth largest continent, and it is permanently covered by an ice sheet. Many people say that the area where I live is precious and this is due to holding 70% of the Earth’s freshwater. Antarctica is extremely important for our climate. The land is surrounded by four oceans. My friends and I swim in the Southern Ocean, Pacific, Indian and South Atlantic Ocean.

There are many animals that live in Antarctica. Some people think that polar bears live in Antarctica, but they do not. Polar Bears live in the Arctic region and near the North Pole. Antarctica does have many species of sea lions, penguins, flying seabirds and whales. We have all adapted to the cold, icy climate. There are no permanent animals that live in Antarctica as the climate and environment becomes too harsh. We all need to be able to find food to eat and when food becomes scarce, we all move. We have a very delicate food chain, and all rely on krill. Krill is a tiny shrimp like crustacean and delicious to eat. If anything happens to the krill and their numbers decrease, we all go hungry!

As a humpback whale, I am told that I am incredibly special. My giant flippers make me unique. They are only small now, but I am still growing. I believe that they will grow exceptionally long and will be at least five metres in length. The fins help me swim, allow me to feed more easily and give me balance. I can slap my fins on the water to talk to other animals. It is fun to communicate this way. My fins are black, but some whales have white fins. I also have a small fin on my back; this dorsal fin also helps me balance in the water.

I have a wonderful tail. Every whale has their own tail. People who whale watch can tell who we are by our tail. It is a little bit like a human having blue, green or brown eyes. When I swim around and show my tail, people can identify me by the shape of my tail and my markings. I have some scratches and barnacles on mine. My fluke can grow up to five metres wide, and I move it up and down, not side to side like a fish.

Unlike other animals, my nose is on top of my head. I have a special hole. In fact, I have two holes. My relatives, the dolphins and toothed whales only have one hole. People like to see me when I breathe out. I take in a large amount of air, but then I blow it all out. When I breathe out, I not only blow out air but water and bacteria as well. My spray goes high into the sky. People like to take photos of me when I do this. I need to breathe all the time and therefore it is difficult to sleep.

I have ears that are inside my body, and these are especially important to me. When I hear, I hear sounds below the water as well as above. Below the water, I can hear the movement of sea life like fish and krill. When I am with other humpback whales, we make sounds to help us work together to catch krill. This makes feeding time fun. Sounds under the ocean tell me if I am in danger or if I need to swim in a different direction to avoid bumping into a reef. Calves can hear the noises their mothers make. Human made noises can often cause confusion. The noise from a cargo ship can make it difficult to hear all the other important sounds.

My eyes are quite large and are placed on either side of my head. When I dive out of the water, I use my eyes to look for land and to see if there are any ships and boats nearby. I do not have any eyelashes, but I do have eyelids. My eyes have a greasy film that go over the eyes to help protect them from the salty water and then the air when I am out of the water. I use my eyes when I sleep. I close my right eye and rest my right side of my brain. I then switch to closing my left eye and rest the left side of my brain. My eyes help keep me safe.

I have no teeth. I have something else instead. When I open my mouth, you will see something that looks like a fringe. When I eat my food, I use my tongue to push the water out of my mouth, but my fringe traps krill and fish. I then swallow the fish and krill.

Living in Antarctica is interesting. I am still young, so I am learning from the other whales about what to do. I have been told that I need to eat and eat lots. This is so I can build up blubber around my body. The blubber is important to keep my body warm, and it stops me from freezing. It also provides energy for when I take a long trip. We are unable to eat much when we travel long distances. For female whales, the blubber allows them to produce milk to feed their young.

When we are in Antarctica, the older whales eat all day and night and never stop eating. They can eat anywhere from one to nine tonnes of krill per day. That is a lot! Because we eat all day and night, we have made a game out of catching and eating krill. We gather and swim in a circle under the krill. Next, we blow lots of bubbles. This creates like a make-believe net that we can then go into the net and then catch the krill.

We are highly active in the water. We like to use our tails to lift our whole body out of the water. We then try to twist in the air and then come back to the water making a very loud splash. This is called breaching. Sometimes we do this just for fun but at other times it is to communicate with other whales or to get rid of parasites on our body. It is the best way to get rid of the nasty bugs.

Another thing we like to do is use our fins and slap the water. It feels good to stretch the body and turn on your side to do this. This creates a loud sound too. Pectoral slapping is not the only slapping we do. We also use our tails high in the air and then bang them on the surface of the water. This is usually to warn other animals that there is danger in the water. We need to be careful of orca whales. Orca whales are not our friends. We try to look after sunfish, seals, and sea lions from the orca whales.