Humphrey the Whale
Humpback whale
Humphrey the Whale is a humpback whale that twice deviated from his Mexico to Alaska migration by entering San Francisco Bay. This behavior is unusual for a humpback whale, and Humphrey attracted wide media attention when he entered the bay in both 1985 and 1990. Both of his bay incursions resulted in rescue by the Marine Mammal Center, based in Marin County, California, assisted by the United States Coast Guard and hundreds of volunteers.
The last sighting of Humphrey was in the vicinity of the Farallon Islands in 1991.
Description
The humpback whale is a mammal which belongs to the baleen whale suborder. An adult usually ranges between 12–16 m (39–52 ft) long and weighs approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 pounds), or 36 tonnes (40 short tons). It is well known for its breaching, its unusually long front fins, and its complex whale song. The humpback whale lives in oceans and seas around the world.
Humpback whales have a stocky body with well-defined humps and black upper elements. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, which are actually hair follicles and are characteristic of the species.
The public source identifies “Humphrey the Whale” as humpback whale. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Humphrey, Whale and Humpback.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5941694. The Library of Congress control number is sh86007511. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1985, 1990 and 1991.
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This entry incorporates text from “Humphrey the Whale” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.