Gray whale facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Gray whale |
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| A Gray Whale | |
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| Size comparison against an average human | |
| Scientific classification | |
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Eschrichtiidae
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Eschrichtius
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| Eschrichtius robustus |
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| Gray whale range | |
The gray whale is a baleen whale (a filter feeder) that has a layer of blubber up to 10 inches (25 cm) thick. Because a mother gray whale would defend her calf so fiercely it would actually attack whalers and overturn their boats, whalers often called the gray whale a devilfish.
The gray whale migrates from cold waters to the tropics each year in pods. Gray whales are very agile swimmers. They can dive for up to 30 minutes and go 500 feet (155 m) deep. Gray whales make grunts, clicks, and whistling sounds which may be used to communicate with other gray whales.
Contents
Diet
This giant cetacean eats small fish, crustaceans, squid, and other tiny organisms that it finds on the sea floor. It sieves its food through its comb-like plates of baleen.
Description
Compared to most baleen whales, gray whales are rather small, growing to be only about 45 feet long. They are easy to see with their gray mottled color, which is actually more charcoal black than it is gray. Gray whales have lots of barnacles and lice on their skin. However, scientists say the lice and barnacles do not harm the whale, and it is possible they may actually help the whale by feeding off of dead skin, which the whale needs to get rid of.
Whales prefer one fin over the other, just like humans are right-handed or left-handed. It is possible to see whether a gray whale is left-finned or right-finned. The fin that has least barnacles is the fin it uses most. This is because the whale likes to dive down to the ocean floor to scoop up huge amounts of sand from the bottom, filtering out small prey animals that live in it. When the whale does this, many of the barnacles on the side that rubbed along the bottom are scraped off. So, whichever side has fewest barnacles is the side the whale prefers to use when it digs up sand.
Migration
Gray whales make a really long migration from the Arctic Ocean (northwest of Alaska) to the coast of Mexico, and back each year. They travel about 20,000 km (~12,500 miles) each year, staying near the coast. They feed in the cold Arctic waters and calve and mate in the warm, protected tropical lagoons of the Pacific Ocean off Mexico.
Images for kids
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Skeleton
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A close-up of a gray whale's double blow hole and some of its encrusted barnacles
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Gray whale breaching
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Gray whale spouting along shores of Yachats
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Calf with mouth open showing baleen, Alaska
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A whale swims off the coast near the Santa Monica Mountains.
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Embryos of gray whale (1874 illustration) and outline of head showing spouthole
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Gray whale breaching off the coast of Santa Barbara, California
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A gray whale viewed from above
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A gray whale breaching in a lagoon on the coast of Mexico
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A gray whale swims near surf on Nootka Island within residential range.
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A gray whale in the water off Sakhalin Island.
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Spyhopping off the Alaskan coast
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Joint American-Russian freeing effort of whales entrapped by ice floe in Beaufort Sea.
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A gray whale in captivity
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_and_outline_of_head_showing_spouthole_in_1874_detail,_from-_The_marine_mammals_of_the_north-western_coast_of_North_America_(Plate_III)_BHL16226079_(cropped).jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Eschrichtius robustus para niños
