Moved: Reply To: TPO49 Humpback Whales

In the lecture, the professor casts doubt on hump whales’ ability to migrate by being navigating by stars. The professor asserts that there is no convincing evidence to support this idea.

Firstly, contrary to the belief in the passage that the evidence of the whales’ complex brains shows they can sense stars and make use of the brightness for orientation, the professor insists that some other animals, for example, ducks, also have brains with high complexity. However, they are not intelligent, which disproves this idea.

Secondly, the author of the passage points out that since the whales can migrate straight, they must be guided by external forces, so stars are their guiders, while the lecture notes that some other explanations are also possible. For instance, the whales may sense the magnetic field of the Earth to find their way to move.

Lastly, opposing to the author’s view that spy-hopping of the whales indicates that they are observing the stars, the professor contends that sharks also do the spy-hopping. Nevertheless, they do this for hunting not migrating. What is more, the whales do spy-hopping in the daytime when they can hardly find stars.