AnimalsHumpback whales are known for leaping out of the water and for the long, complex songs of the males. They have very long flippers. Each year they travel between cold feeding waters and warm breeding waters.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Megaptera novaeangliae
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Carnivore (eats other animals)
- Lives in
- All oceans
- Habitat
- Open sea and coasts
- A young one is called
- calf
- A group is called
- pod
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Cetacea
- Family Balaenopteridae
- Genus Megaptera
- Species Megaptera novaeangliae
Other members of the family Balaenopteridae on this site: blue whale.
More distant relatives in the order Cetacea: common bottlenose dolphin, Ganges river dolphin, orca.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The humpback whale is listed as Least Concern. The species is widespread or numerous enough that it is not considered at risk of extinction at present.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.