Sparta the Humpback Whale

Her Story

Sparta was born in 1996 to Olympia, a well-known prolific female.  Sparta was thought to be a male but surprised researchers in 2001 by bringing a calf back to the feeding ground at the ripe old age of 5!

Sparta was named for the javelin-like mark on the left side of her fluke.

Sparta was and still is a favorite of whale watchers due to her deep interest in acrobatic displays and her demonstration of them closer to the boat than most other humpbacks. 

Here she is lobtailing within a few feet of the side of the boat. 

You don’t often see a humpback looking at you but you can see Sparta’s eye in the picture on the right.  A humpback eye is just forward of the flipper.

Since we have seen Sparta since she was a small calf, it is possible to show the size difference in just a few years.  At left is Sparta in 1996 and near left in 2001 as an adult.  What a change!

Sparta’s History

Mother:               Olympia	First Sighting:   1996
Year Of Birth:   1996	Last Seen:           2001

Sparta’s Family Tree

Calves	Year of Birth	Grandcalves
Unnamed	2001	None

 

New:  Sparta on DVD reg $25.00

On sale now $18.99

If you adopted Sparta from any of the Adopt A Whale Programs in the US or UK, you can meet her!

You will be delighted to spend 26 minutes watching excellent footage of Sparta.  You see her flippering and lobtailing at the same time as her mother.  Sparta approaches the boat and then breaches three times.  Sparta is then seen feeding with another humpback, Venom.  Finally, Sparta approaches the boat, rolls over and everyone looks her in the eye!

A sample clip from the Sparta DVD (Coming soon)

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