Don’t call it a comeback, call it a humpback.
The BBC has published a report on the increased sightings of humpback whale “super-groups” in recent years. While a music super-group is made up of artists from different famous bands — think The Traveling Wilburys or Derek and the Dominos — a humpback super-group refers to 20 or more whales swimming within five body-lengths of each other.
While the humpback population took a big hit in the 20th century due to whaling, a whaling moratorium passed in the 1980s has led to a resurgence. So much so that in December 2025, photographers Monique Fallows and Chris Fallows found themselves taking pictures of a super-group of 304 humpbacks, thought to be the greatest number of large whales ever seen together in one day.
“You feel the breath of the whales falling on you,” says Monique. “The whales burp and fart all the time – on a ginormous scale. The smell is pungent. It’s very fishy.”