August 17 -- Humpbacks swam thousands of circuitous miles to get to these waters off the northeastern coast of Madagascar. Howard Rosenbaum traveled a similar distance to be here, in this same place, at this precise time.

Howard is here for the whales. The whales are here for ... other humpbacks, of course!

Howard is a great guy and a respected scientist and all, but it's mating (and birthing) season here in the Southern Hemisphere. And the humpbacks aren't singing for Howard, if you catch my drift.

A Gathering of Humpbacks

A research biologist with the American Museum of Natural History, Howard first visited these waters in 1996, hoping to find a few humpbacks. Ten or so would have made him very happy, he says. But Howard identified 150 that year; last August and September, he identified 100 more. A finding of 250 humpbacks in two seasons could translate to 250 whales migrating off the coast of Madagascar. Or 500. Or 2,500.

Howard suspects this is one of the more significant humpback populations in the Southern Hemisphere and, possibly, worldwide. Humpbacks still inhabit all of the world's oceans.

Last century, an estimated 100,000 humpbacks populated the oceans south of the equator alone. Today, scientists think that only about 25,000 humpbacks survive anywhere on the planet.

Humpbacks, which are on the U.S. Endangered Species List, barely survived an insatiable whaling industry over the past two centuries. Even today, despite the banning of commercial whaling, the recovery is slow.

Taking a Long, Close Look

Howard's to-do list here on Antongil Bay in the Indian Ocean includes everything from recording enigmatic humpback songs to extracting DNA from tissue samples retrieved with crossbow and biopsy darts. But he and his expedition team will spend most of their time simply observing these creatures over the next month or so -- trying to gather as much data as possible before the humpbacks leave these warm, coastal waters as predictably as they arrived, heading for the open sea and, presumably, Antarctica.

Humpbacks are among the most-studied whales, yet their behavior and even some of their biology remains elusive. Although we get giddy when humpbacks breach or flipper-slap or spyhop, we can only speculate about the purpose of their acrobatic feats. And the behaviors we see at the surface are only the tip of the iceberg: No one has ever documented the sighting of a mating humpback pair, much less witnessed the ocean birth of an air-breathing infant.

The Science of Whale-Watching

If, over the course of this next month, Howard and his team come across as a tad intolerant of the anthropomorphizing that swirls around whales, take heart. There are pods of commercial boats much closer to home for those of you yearning to look into the eyes of a gentle giant and see yourselves reflected. There is also literature enough to satisfy those who suspect that the secrets of the universe will be revealed in the song of a humpback.

On our research boat, the business is solid science. Our mission: Conserve a remote habitat and a species struggling to rebound from near-decimation. It'll be crowded and wet and difficult, but on good days creatures of extraordinary power will surround us. Humpbacks can lift and twist their own 40-plus tons completely out of the water, possibly just for fun. They are of such incredible size that their flippers, which measure one-third of their body length, are longer than our research boat; and of such complex intelligence that they compose ever-changing songs that can be heard blasting for hundreds of miles underwater.

If that's not enough to lure you in, consider that humpbacks hold the record for the longest migration route among mammals: 4,000 miles one way, from summer feeding grounds to winter breeding and calving grounds. Their metabolisms are equally incredible, allowing mature mothers to fast during the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere, even as their newborn calves drain them of endless gallons of fatty milk.

We'll be based here on Nosy Mangabe, a paradise-like island-reserve that is four miles off of Madagascar's mainland. At the reserve we'll hear howling lemurs and have sneak peeks at what is perhaps the oddest of Madagascar's array of strange creatures: the nocturnal aye-aye.

But mostly, we'll be on the sea. Howard doesn't mind that we're unlikely to see any other boats out on the bay -- just dolphins and humpbacks; sea turtles and humpbacks; humpbacks and more humpbacks.

Join us when you can. We'll make room for you on our little skiff.

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