It is called bubble-net feeding. As NPR's Nate Rott reports, a new study suggests the whales are teaching each other how to do it. EADIN O'MAHONY: Bubble-net feeding is this very interesting feeding behavior that happens in humpback whales. ROTT: Eadin O'Mahony is a behavioral ecologist at the University of St. Andrews and lead author of the new study. Other research has shown that bubble nets can help humpbacks catch seven times more food in a single lunging gulp.