Hello everyone! This is a brand new segment that I’ll be doing in my free time. If you don’t know me, I am Zed Shirogane. I do this segment as part of the Furry Weekly Magazine, an online mock magazine for the furry fandom. You can find them on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/furryweekly/.

The adopt for this segment has already been sold, as this segmenty was originally made back in September. If you are interested in keeping up and even having early acess to this segment, I have a patreon dedicated to this new passion project of mine: https://www.patreon.com/ZedShirogane. It also includes exclusive adopts for certain tiers: all of which the funds will be donated to charities for endangered and threatened animal species. This version of Animal Of The Week is without additional images and artworks, if youd like to see the full version it will be publically accessable through my patreon.

Animal Of The Week is a segment where I highlight an animal I find really cool, cute, creepy, or just plain fascinating: mostly geared towards endangered or threatened species. You’ll be able to learn a lot about the animal and I'll link you to some fundraisers that may help the animal of the week. The segment is launched with the Furry Weekly magazine schedule, so it may not be posted exactly every week, just every issue. On top of the segment itself, I’ll be making you guys a coloring page illustration for you all to print out and color in at home (or digitally color if you prefer that), as well as an adoptable character inspired by the animal of the week (all proceeds made by said adopt will be donated to one of the fundraisers for the animal).

The animal of the week for Issue 200 was the Humpback Whale!

Humpback whales are large marine mammals that usually are 40-55 ft long as well as weigh around 25-30 tons. They have a distinctive “hump” on their backs where their dorsal fins are that give them their name, as well as very long pectoral fins that allow them to have surprising maneuverability in the water for such large creatures. They are also known for their singing, often being very complex and beautiful to listen to (as we know currently, only males sing).

They are baleen whales, meaning they have specialized “teeth” that are large bristles that comb out prey from the water. Humpbacks eat a wide variety of creatures, mainly krill and schooling fish (mackerel, pollock, haddock, menhaden, salmon, and herring). They use several different strategies towards capturing prey, the most iconic being the bubble netting and lunge feeding. This is where they use bubbles to corral fish into a tight ball and then synchronously, they all swim up from below with their mouths open to capture the prey. This is quite the spectacle to witness which leads them to be one of the most exciting whales to see while whale watching.

Humpback whales travel vast distances. They inhabit all major oceans with 4 global populations: North Pacific, Atlantic, Southern Ocean, and Indian Ocean. Some studies show that they can migrate well past 8,300 km within a single trip (individuals can be identified by the white spot pattern on the underside of their tails).

Humpback whales were hunted harshly during the 19th century after the introduction of explosive harpoons. During the early 20th century, over 200,000 humpback whales were taken, reducing their population by over 90%! Thankfully, multiple bans on whale hunting were implemented after this and humpbacks are currently on a slow path to recovery. Currently, the species are still having issues related to humans: mainly being hit by large ships, habitat being degraded by pollution, and getting entangled by fishing nets.

This is where the World Wildlife Fund steps in, where you can “adopt” a humpback whale by providing funding to the conservation, rehabilitation, and rescue of humpback whale: https://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gif.....ck-whale.aspx. We also have Save The Whales, another fundraiser project that is geared this time towards education of the public. They work with school programs, educating our future generations so that they can help take steps towards stewardship of our oceans: https://savethewhales.org/.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you all learned a lot about these amazing creatures, humpback whales are one of my personal favorites. I encourage you all to check out more websites and fundraisers to learn more about the fascinating lives of these gentle giants.

Enjoy this coloring page made by yours truly, for you!
Link To DropBox File: https://www.dropbox.com/s/loac6kk2x.....saic.png?dl=0.