The Virtual Whale Project was developed help us interpret our data with the use of 3D Graphics and sound. Perhaps one of our most important goals, however, is to use the Virtual Whale Project as an education and conservation tool to celebrate the lives of humpback whales. Studying Whales One of the interesting things about Pacific Humpback Whales is the way they feed. They eat herring and krill mostly, but they don't just chase the prey wildly. By spreading out, they make it so that whale can only get a few of them, at a time.
Diving offers the protection of the dark ocean bottom where they can hide.
The whales in turn have evolved some very interesting techniques for catching prey with the above avoidance behaviours. They work in groups, and use noise, fin motions, and bubbles to scare the prey twords the surface of the water, and corral them so that they cannot spread out. When the prey are trapped by walls of bubbles, and near the surface of the water, that is when the whales lunge up with their mouths open to engulf the schools of herring or krill. The release of bubbles during foraging activity has been noted in a number of marine predators. Compared to other predators, however, the humpback whale is unusual in that it deploys bubbles in a much more elaborate manner, and uses them on several different prey types.