1. Gray Whale Migration & Whale Watching

2. Physical Characteristics
Adult females are slightly larger than males and measure ~50 feet long.
Both sexes weigh tons.
A 45-foot, 35-ton gray whale is about the same size as 10 large elephants.
Adult males measure feet in length.
The largest gray whales have flukes, or tails, that may span 10 feet.
Gray whales are gray with white patches.

3. Gray Whale Facts
The white patches mainly consist of barnacles and whale lice, which are attached to their skin.
On average, a whale carries over 400 pounds of barnacles on its body.
Whales rely on a layer of blubber up to 12 inches thick to help them maintain their body temperature.
Whales are voluntary breathers, which means they have to remember to breathe. This makes sleeping difficult.
Gray whales live to be years old.

4. Gray Whales’ Food Source
Except for babies, gray whales eat little or nothing during migration and in the lagoons of Mexico.
When they get home to their arctic feeding grounds, which are ice-free during the summer, they feast for days before heading south again.
It takes over 600 pounds of tiny krill (amphipods) and mysis shrimp to fill a gray’s stomach.
Gray whales have 2-4 throat grooves about 5 feet in length.
These grooves expand during feeding, which requires a large intake of water and mud.
Gray whales feed on the bottom of the ocean floor, sifting through the mud with their baleen.

5. What is a Baleen Whale?
Gray whales don’t have teeth; they have baleen.
Baleen is made of plates of keratin, a fingernail-like material that frays out into fine hairs.
Baleen hangs on either side of the jaw, where teeth might otherwise be located.
The plates are off-white and are 2-10 inches in length.
The whales feed on the right side of their mouths, and sediment is strained by the baleen to catch crustaceans.
The crustaceans are trapped in the baleen, which the whale licks with its tongue to dislodge and eat them.

6. Gray Whale Habitat They are found only in the Pacific Ocean.
Along the coastline, they have a population of ~26,000. Around Korea and Japan, a small group of whales is on the brink of extinction.
Gray whales became extinct in the North Atlantic Ocean in the 17th century due to hunting.
The whales’ habitat ranges from the Arctic Ocean northwest of Alaska to the Baja peninsula in Mexico.

7. Gray Whale Behaviors
The whales migrate to give birth and mate in a warm climate.
They migrate along the coastline and are the only whale that eats from the ocean floor.
Gray whales form small pods from 3-16 members.
Spy-hopping is a gray whale behavior where the whale pokes its head up to 10 feet out of the water to look around.
Gray whales also breach, or jump partially out of the water, causing a loud noise when they land.
This may be a form of communication, as are their various grunts, clicks, and whistles.

8. Baby Whale
The baby whale weighs 1,100-1,500 lbs. and is ~15 feet long at birth.
The warmer waters of Baja Mexico’s shallow lagoons help newborns conserve body heat.
They are born lean and without blubber.
The calves nurse for about 6 months, during which time the mother provides up to 50 gallons of milk each day.
The milk contains 53% fat, and calves may gain pounds daily, building up blubber for their cold trip north.
Female whales help each other at birth. The “Auntie” pushes the newborn calf up to the surface to ensure it does not drown.

9. Whale Nurseries Gray whales migrate farther than any mammal on Earth.
Each year they swim from the cold Arctic to warm Mexican lagoons and back again, traveling over 10,000 miles.
They leave the cold waters of the Bering Sea in November and swim for 55 days nonstop.
In January they arrive in the warm, safe lagoons of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, just in time to give birth.
The whales remain in the lagoons for 3 months and start their return trip to the Bering Sea in March.