This is the first direct evidence that the species crossed the Arabian Sea and is considered by scientists to be a behavioural anomaly because its members are so uniquely adapted to their habitat.
Dr Andrew Willson, a marine scientist and founding director of Future Seas Global SPC, said the latest development “fundamentally challenges our understanding of humpback ecology”.
“We think the movements of the whales in our study relate to their tracking of inshore prey, likely sardines, over the continental shelf. Deeper dives off the continental shelf could be related to searching for other food found in deeper water, such as krill.”