The Humpback Whale is a mammal which belongs to the baleen whale suborder. It is a large whale: an adult usually ranges between 12-16m long and weighs approximately 36 metric tons. It is well known for its breaching (leaping out of the water) and its complex whale song. Humpback Whales live in oceans and seas around the world, and are regularly sought out by whale-watchers. Humpback Whales are easy to identify. It has a stocky body with an obvious hump and black upperparts. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, and are actually hair follicles that are characteristic of the species. The tail flukes, which are lifted high in the dive sequence, have wavy rear edges.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_Whale

Today's selected anniversaries:

1582 Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain, October 4 of this year was followed immediately by October 15, skipping over 10 calendar days. Other countries followed at various later dates. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_Calendar)

1815 Napoleon I of France began his exile on St. Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France)

1894 The Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French military, was wrongly arrested for treason in a political scandal later exposed by �mile Zola. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus)

1917 Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari, also a courtesan who might have had affairs with many military officers and politicians in France, was executed by a firing squad for spying for Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari)

2003 China launched Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission, with Lt. Col. Yang Liwei aboard as the republic's first astronaut. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5)

Wikiquote of the day:

"It is better to debate a question without deciding it than to decide it without debate." ~ Joseph Joubert (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert)