Comeback of the Humpback

Each year in November one of the greatest annual migrations on Earth comes full circle. After a 6 000-kilometre trip, the Southern Hemisphere humpback whales are back in their summer feeding grounds in the Antarctic.

There they’ll feed on krill for the next four months to replenish their stores of fat, before heading north again to their equatorial breeding grounds, where warm waters provide a gentle entry to the world for the blubberless newborn calves.

Perhaps you were among the many people who, in the winter months, on tour boats or even from the shore, marvelled at the acrobatic feats - breaching, lobtailing, spyhopping - of these charismatic mammals, as they move up and down our coastline following ancient routes embedded in their collective memories.

Perhaps, too, their numbers