humpback whale ...gentle giants With a nudge, a mother humpback whale pushes her 15-foot-long newborn calf to the surface for its first breaths of air.  Later, she strokes her calf with her fluke to guide it through the warm waters where it spends it first few months gaining weight and strength.  As soon as the calf has gained enough strength and blubber from its mother's milk, the two of them will begin a 2,000-mile trip toward the rich feeding grounds of polar waters where they will fill up on tiny shrimplike krill and small fish.  For the next year, the mother whale keeps her calf close, teaching it where to go for food, how to behave with its fellow whales and all the lessons needed for ocean survival. In that time, the calf will double in size!  Click here to learn more about humpback whales.