How Great Thou Art!

[202 words] Humpback whales are about 40 feet long at maturity and weigh about one ton per foot. They carry a thousand pounds of barnacles, and when they jump, or breach, they extend themselves totally in the air, and then free-fall back into the ocean. You can see the splash five miles away. Humpback whales travel down to Hawaii from Alaska every year to calve in the warm Hawaiian waters. Year after year, each family comes back to the very same place around the island. When the calves are born (they weigh about five tons), they are born breech, or tail, first If they were born head first, these air-breathing mammals would drown during the birth process. As a baby whale is born, another humpback whale comes alongside and pushes it up to the surface to help the baby take his first breath of air. The humpback whale sings a…