A sea once emptied by whaling is loud again

Photographers Chris and Monique Fallows counted 304 humpback whales feeding near Dassen Island off South Africa's west coast in a single day, one of the largest such gatherings ever documented. The whales had packed into dense feeding clusters that scientists call super-groups, defined as at least 20 humpbacks crowded together at once. The behavior surprised researchers, who long assumed humpbacks travel alone or in pairs. Cold currents in the Southern Benguela push nutrients to the surface, drawing krill, which draws the whales. Scientists first recorded these crowds during research cruises in 2011. A 2025 study found 239 separate super-group sightings between 2015 and 2022. Many of the whales in the Fallows images had never been identified before, catalogued by the patterns on their flukes, which work like fingerprints. The species was nearly erased by commercial whaling. A sea once emptied by harpoons is loud again with whale breath.