Humpbacks Observed Mating for the First Time—But Wait, There’s More

By Bethanie H

Published

03/07/2025

A new research study details the first documented observance of sex between humpback whales in the wild. Interestingly, the mating behavior was between two male humpbacks.

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“Despite decades of research on humpback whales around the world [. . .] copulation in humpback whales has not yet been documented,” the researchers wrote in study, which published at the end of February in the scientific journal Marine Mammal Science. “This is the first report of penetration by a humpback whale, and the first report of sexual activity between two male humpback whales.”

The study includes surprising images of the two animals copulating. Photographers Lyle Krannichfeld and Brandi Romano came across the scene by chance back in 2022. The pair discovered the whales off the coast of Maui, and knowing they’d stumbled upon something never before seen, they shared their photos with Stephanie Stack of the Pacific Whale Foundation, who ended up being the lead author on the study. Stack told Scientific American that when she saw the images, she realized the whales were both males, making the interaction even more rare.

Here’s the uncensored version of the humpbacks’ mating behavior: