An Australian TikTok celebrity filmed a humpback whale in a rare "headstand" position in the calm horizon. While paddling in a clear boat, Brody Moss says, "The whale’s tail suddenly broke the surface of the ocean right in front of my eyes." Moss adds in the background of his video, which was shared on TikTok and YouTube, "My heart is racing." He points in front of him to the Megaptera novaeangliae tail that floats horizontally in the horizon, almost completely still. Since the tail of the whale resembles a sail when it protrudes above the ocean water, this behavior is sometimes known as "tail sailing." It's a breathtaking sight sometimes observed by watchers of humpback whales, gray whales, and bowhead whales. Moss did not mention where the footage was captured, but he is a member of the YBS Youngbloods crew - the team creating ocean media content along the shores of Western Australia between Exmouth and Broome.
The Western Australia whale monitoring service also captured one of these special events on camera in 2019 and 2020. This is not the only place in the world where humpback whales display this behavior. Off the coast of Brazil, researchers conducting a long-term study of the species between 1989 and 2000 found that the whales were slowly twisting their tails, allowing them to turn around a longitudinal axis. When mother whales exhibited this behavior, their calves typically swam around them, just as Moss witnessed the event in Australia. In 2016, a drone off the coasts of Maui observed a humpback whale's tail upright above the surface for over 10 minutes.
Researchers in the Brazil study noted that the whale tail is highly vascular, meaning it can be used to absorb or release heat from the body very effectively. However, this remains merely a hypothesis for now. Moss hopes that his recent footage will help scientists better understand this behavior.
