How long can humpback whales dive?
Up to 45 minutes, but usually they dive 15-20 minutes depending on what they are doing. If the whales are within a so called “competition group” (several full-grown males are trying to get the best position to the one female in the group), they are travelling with faster speed, fighting and breaching, which costs them a lot of energy. Then they must come up to breathe after only 5-10 minutes. When the whales are avoiding loud vessel engines, researchers have observed them staying down 45 minutes in the same position, coming up at the same spot they went down 45 minutes before. In the feeding grounds of Alaska and Canada, the longest downtime observed was 55 minutes. It is also known they are capable of depths of 600 feet, according to Dr. Adam Pack, who tagged humpbacks in Hawaii last year. This astounded the science community who all asked, “what are they doing down there?” Hopefully we’ll have answers soon.
