The Gray
Whales
by Nancy J. Reid
Read the lesson and play the game below. Clues to the
answers are highlighted in yellow.
The
Gray Whale is a
mammal, not a fish.
A mammal is an
animal that is warm-blooded, breathes air, gives birth to
live young, and suckles their young on their own milk.
Live young means the baby is born without being hatched
out of an egg like a bird or some reptiles. Whales,
dolphins and porpoises are all mammals, even though they
live in the ocean and swim like fish.
Whales have a
"blow hole" which is their nostrils, located on the
top of their head. When they come to the surface of the
ocean and exhale, it causes a plume of vapor called "a
blow." They swim by paddling with flippers located on the
sides of their bodies and huge tails. Their tails have a
series of flattened blades called
"flukes".
Some whales have teeth, but the Gray Whale has
"baleen". Baleen is a bristly material attached to
the upper jaw of whales, that is made from the same
substance as your fingernails. Gray Whales feed on the
bottom of the ocean by scooping up mud and sifting it
through their mouths. The baleen traps small
crustaceans.
Gray Whales live in the northern
Pacific Ocean.
They feed in the artic in summer, then migrate south to
Mexico in November.
Once in Mexico, they give birth. In
mid-February
they migrate back to the artic. They travel over
10,000 miles
to make this trip every year. This is the longest
migration known for a mammal. They are protected against
the cold water by
blubber, or fat. This layer of fat not only keeps
them warm, but it provides energy.
A Gray Whale is 15
feet long and can weighs close to one ton (2000
pounds). An adult Gray Whale can grow up to 50 feet long
and weight as much as
35 tons (70,000 pounds). Baby whales will drink up
to 50 gallons of milk every day, even during the migration
back to the artic.
You can go whale watching off the San Diego, California
coastline in late December through January while the
whales are traveling south. In early March through late
April you can see them again on their return to the artic.
You can see the Gray Whales in the breeding grounds in the
lagoons of Baja California, Mexico in early spring.
The
Birch Aquarium at Scripps offers many exciting whale
watching trips--the perfect family outing.
For a short video clip, click here.