Interbreeding area movement of an adult humpback whale between the east Pacific Ocean and southwest Indian Ocean.

Humpback whales undertake one of the longest known migrations of any mammal. While their migration route generally extends between latitudes, the breeding stocks are longitudinally separated and display high site fidelity to their feeding grounds. While there is an indication of certain breeding stocks overlapping with each other, the current information on the migration routes of humpback whales within the Southern Hemisphere limits our understanding of the extent of this exchange.

No distinct local cuisines among humpback whales: A population diet comparison in the Southern Hemisphere.

Southern hemisphere humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae, SHHW) breeding populations follow a high-fidelity Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) diet while feeding in distinct sectors of the Southern Ocean. Their capital breeding life history requires predictable ecosystem productivity to fuel migration and migration-related behaviours. It is therefore postulated that populations feeding in areas subject to the strongest climate change impacts are more likely to show the first signs of a departure from a high-fidelity krill diet.

A surplus no more? Variation in krill availability impacts reproductive rates of Antarctic baleen whales.

The krill surplus hypothesis of unlimited prey resources available for Antarctic predators due to commercial whaling in the 20th century has remained largely untested since the 1970s. Rapid warming of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) over the past 50 years has resulted in decreased seasonal ice cover and a reduction of krill. The latter is being exacerbated by a commercial krill fishery in the region.