Just when we think we know a lot about humpback whales, we don't
For generations, humpback whales have been among the most studied creatures on Earth — their songs catalogued, their migrations mapped, their feeding rituals described in exhaustive detail. And yet, off the Australian coast, something was happening in plain sight that science had never formally named. A Macquarie University researcher, drawing on footage gathered by tourists, whale-watch operators, and drone enthusiasts, has documented 66 instances of a mysterious wide-mouthed behavior called 'gaping' — a reminder that knowledge does not belong only to those with credentials, and that the ocean still holds its secrets close.
- A behavior hiding in plain sight: humpback whales have been opening their mouths wide and holding them open, captured on camera dozens of times, yet never once formally studied until now.
- The discovery unsettles a comfortable assumption — that one of the world's most-watched marine species had already surrendered its mysteries to science.
- Sixty-six documented instances, gathered not from research vessels but from tourists on boats, swimmers in the water, and drone operators overhead, suggest the behavior is neither rare nor random.
- The purpose remains elusive — communication, social play, juvenile curiosity, or something as mundane as a jaw stretch — and the uncertainty is itself the finding.
- Researcher Dr. Vanessa Pirotta is now repositioning citizen observers not as bystanders but as essential instruments of discovery, expanding where the frontier of marine science is understood to begin.
Dr. Vanessa Pirotta, a whale scientist at Macquarie University, was scrolling through footage and social media posts when she noticed something that didn't fit. Humpback whales — animals whose habits fill textbooks — were opening their mouths wide and holding them open. Not feeding. Not vocalizing in any obvious way. Just gaping.
Her resulting paper, released ahead of Australia's annual Humpback Day, documents 66 separate instances of this behavior. What makes it remarkable is not only what was observed, but who observed it: tourists, whale-watch operators, and drone enthusiasts who happened to be watching at the right moment and had the presence of mind to record it. "Just when we think we know a lot about humpback whales, we don't," Pirotta says.
The behavior appeared in adults and calves alike, most often when other whales were nearby and outside normal feeding windows. It was captured from boats, from underwater during swim-with-whale encounters, and from aerial drone footage — a consistency that suggested intention, even as the purpose stayed opaque. Pirotta's team weighed several explanations: communication, social play, juvenile exploration of floating objects, or simply an incidental jaw movement with no deeper meaning.
What the research ultimately argues is that the boundary of marine science does not end at the research vessel. It extends to anyone with a camera and curiosity on the water. The humpback whale, one of the most studied animals alive, still had something left to show us — and it took a tourist with a phone to prove it.
Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a whale scientist at Macquarie University, was reviewing footage and social media posts one afternoon when she noticed something that stopped her. Humpback whales—animals that have been studied for decades, whose migration patterns and feeding habits fill textbooks—were doing something nobody had formally documented before. They were opening their mouths wide, holding them open, for no apparent reason. Not feeding. Not vocalizing in any obvious way. Just gaping.
Pirotta's new paper, released ahead of Australia's annual Humpback Day, examines 66 separate instances of this behaviour, captured by tourists on boats, swimmers in the water, and people operating drones. The research is notable not just for what it describes, but for how it was assembled. The observations came from people who were not marine biologists—whale-watch operators, casual tourists, drone enthusiasts—who happened to be in the right place at the right moment and had the presence of mind to record what they saw.
This is the power of citizen science, and Pirotta is emphatic about it. "Just when we think we know a lot about humpback whales, we don't," she says. The people spending hours on the water watching these animals, she explains, are not amateurs in any pejorative sense. They are observers with access to increasingly sophisticated technology—high-quality cameras, drones, underwater recording devices—and the time to use them. They see things that researchers working from laboratories or brief research expeditions might never catch.
The gaping behaviour itself remains mysterious. The whales captured in these 66 instances were both adults and calves. It occurred most often when other whales were nearby, but outside the normal feeding windows when humpbacks are typically active. The behaviour appeared across different contexts: above water from boats, underwater during swim-with-whale encounters, and from aerial perspectives. The consistency suggested something intentional, but the purpose remained opaque.
Pirotta and her team considered several possibilities. The gaping could be a form of communication between whales. It might serve a social or playful function, particularly among younger animals. For calves especially, it could represent exploration—young whales investigating floating debris or other objects in the ocean. Or it might be something simpler: an incidental jaw stretch, a mechanical separation of the mouth that serves no deeper purpose at all.
What makes this research significant is not that it answers the question definitively, but that it raises it at all. Humpback whales have been the subject of scientific study for generations. Their songs, their migrations, their feeding strategies are well documented. Yet here is a behaviour that appears to be common enough to be captured 66 times by people with cameras, and it had never been formally studied. That gap exists not because the behaviour is hidden, but because the observers who might notice it—tourists, operators, casual documentarians—were not traditionally considered part of the scientific apparatus.
Pirotta's work changes that calculus. It suggests that the frontier of marine science is not confined to research vessels and university labs. It exists wherever someone with a camera and curiosity happens to be watching. The humpback whales, in their way, have already been teaching us this lesson. We are only now learning to listen.
Citas Notables
Tourism operators and citizen scientists spend hours observing whales and are a powerful resource for capturing and reporting on behaviour, using the increasingly high-quality technologies many of us have on hand.— Dr Vanessa Pirotta, Macquarie University
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter that we don't know why whales are gaping? Isn't that just one odd behaviour among thousands?
Because it suggests we're not as close to understanding these animals as we thought. If 66 people can capture something on camera that scientists had never formally documented, what else are we missing?
But couldn't this behaviour have always been happening and nobody just bothered to record it before?
Exactly. Which means the real discovery isn't the gaping itself—it's realizing that the people with the best view of whale behaviour aren't always the ones with PhDs. A whale-watch operator spends more hours watching whales than most researchers ever will.
So you're saying citizen science is just... letting regular people do the work?
No. It's recognizing that observation is a skill, and some of the best observers aren't credentialed scientists. They're people who care enough to look closely and share what they see.
What happens next? Do we just wait for more gaping videos?
We start asking better questions. Why calves more than adults? Why when other whales are nearby? Those answers might come from the next tourist with a camera and the curiosity to wonder.