From late December until mid April the Dominican Republic becomes a breeding and calving zone of the humpback whales. Every year these magnificent air breathing, warm blooded marine mammals migrate from the North Atlantic feeding areas of Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, the Gulf of Maine and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Decreed a sanctuary in 1986 the Silver Bank, which is located approximately 100 km north of the Dominican Republic, hosts one of the largest population of humpbacks in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1996 the Silver Bank Sanctuary was enlarged to encompass the Bay of Samana, and the North and East coastlines of the island.

Humpbacks are baleen whales, in other words they have no teeth, but flexible plates of baleen inside their mouth that acts like a strainer to help collect its food. Their diet consists of tiny crustaceans such as krill, plankton, and small fish schooling fish such as herring, mackerel capelin and sandeel. On average they will eat approximately four to five thousand pounds, (two thousand to twenty five thousand kg) or more, per day during their feeding season in the cold northern waters. They do not feed during their entire time in their mating and calving areas in the warm southern areas, but survive from the layer of blubber they have accumulated, while the calves feed on the rich mother’s milk.

Distinguishable by their distinctive pattern on the underside of their fluke (tail) allows researchers to identify individuals and to estimate population, migration patterns, and life expectancy. Although the humpback is not the largest of the whale population (whales are the largest animals on the planet), they can grow up to fifty feet in length and can weigh thirty-five to forty tons. Their life expectancy is around forty to fifty years with sexual maturity being reached at four to five years. Gestation period is twelve months. The size of a newborn calf can be up to sixteen feet, weighing one and a half tons, and will drink fifty gallons of mother’s milk per day. They will nurse for approximately ten months to one year before leaving their mother, at which time the “baby” is usually more than twenty feet in length, weighing at over ten tons. When the mother and year old calf return to the south Atlantic waters of the Dominican Republic, the mother will again be ready to mate. By then the calf will be able to feed and take care of itself and become independent.

One of the most interesting behavior traits of the humpback whale is their hauntingly beautiful song. Only the males sing and they all sing the same song. Some researchers believe that this could be part of their courtship ritual, though others believe that the songs could be used to establish a territory. The song will change gradually from year to year, like changing a verse, but all the males of that population will still be singing the same song.

Whale watching expeditions from the Bay of Samana offer one of the best locations in the world to observe these fascinating creatures, and in 1994 strict regulations and guidelines were set up to ensure the safety and protection of the humpbacks so that they will continue to return to these protected waters to reproduce and mate.