Dark sounds fill the void
A strong back breaks the waves
Travelers of the deep

But do humans never succeed in saving a species from extinction?
Of course they do, and the humpback whale is a good example.

The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. Adults range in length from 14–17 m (46–56 ft) and weigh up to 40 metric tons (44 short tons). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers. Males produce a complex song typically lasting 4 to 33 minutes.

Humpback whales typically migrate up to 16,000 km (9,900 mi) each year and are found in oceans and seas around the world. They feed in polar waters and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth. Their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Unique among large whales, humpbacks use bubbles to catch prey. 

Although the humpback whale is among the most studied whales, many aspects of its way of life remain unexplained. However, it has become clear that it is an intelligent animal.

The humpback was a target for the whaling industry, like all other large whales. Humans once hunted the species to the brink of extinction; its population fell to around 5,000 by the 1960s. While numbers have partially recovered to some 135,000 animals worldwide, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution continue to affect the species.

Food chain

Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. They absorb carbon throughout their long lives. When they die, the sequestered carbon goes with them to the ocean floor, literally a carbon sink ! It is estimated that a humpback whale sequesters about 30 tons of CO2 on average, taking that carbon out of the atmosphere for centuries.

Whales are some of the ocean's most fruitful gardeners. When whales poop, they drop a load of crucial nutrients into the 'topsoil' of the ocean. Their poop fertilizes the surface of the ocean with nutrients that are fundamental to the health of ocean ecosystems, the global nutrient cycle, and the carbon cycle.

But increasingly, disruption of the food chain through overfishing, pollution, acidification and warming of the oceans are a major threat.

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'Travelers' is the seventh and last artwork in the first series of my collection ‘Drowned Earth’. 
In this collection of new artworks, I show how I see the earth from, let's say, a few centuries from now. An amalgamation of the forests and the oceans. With hopefully in the distant future a rich ecosystem that has managed to adapt to the new conditions.

General info on this artwork

This is a digital artwork, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I do that until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page and here.

ALL WE NEED IS LESS CONSUMING

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it, on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming, on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…

Want to know your ecological footprint? 

Visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en 

Want to reduce your ecological footprint?

Ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply choose in the menu for Your Footprint.

If you appreciate my writings and art and want to support me, you can buy me a piece of fruit here: https://ko-fi.com/jacobberghoef 

Thank you 🍏 !