Watching Gray Whales in Magdalena Bay
With a full day dedicated to observing gray whales in their wintering grounds, we had the opportunity to see almost every behavior we could expect. It is a wonderful experience to watch wild animals in their natural environment, without disturbing them. When we arose this morning, there were several cow-calf pairs near the Sea Lion peacefully surfacing for breaths, with an occasional spy-hop (lifting the head vertically out of the water) by the closest mother. It was quite a sight and enough to cause us to gasp in awe. We don’t understand most of their behaviors; we can only guess at what they mean.
Out in the Zodiacs, we are closer to their level, but we still don’t see what they are doing under the water. When there are two or three adult animals swimming rapidly in close proximity and then rolling together, we can only wonder if it is mating behavior. Often we may see the flukes (tail) come out of the water during this kind of activity. Gray whales are one of only a few species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) that will regularly (but not always) “fluke-up” as they dive.
When whales rest, they lay quietly at the surface, taking a breath every so often. We call it “logging,” as the animal looks like a giant floating log. They cannot go into a deep prolonged sleep, as they must maintain some consciousness in order to contract muscles to open their blowholes. As land-dwelling mammals, it is difficult for us to understand how the whales, which have the same mammalian characteristics that we do, exist in an aquatic environment. They evolved from land-dwelling creatures millions of years ago and are now supremely adapted to living their entire lives in water.
The blowspout is usually the first way we can spot a whale at a distance. The gray whale has a bushy spout. If the whales are nearby, we will often hear them before we see them. It takes just a couple seconds for them to exhale and then inhale again when they reach the surface. The exhalation can be very explosive; the inhalation is a hollow sound. Whales exchange oxygen very efficiently when they breathe. They can also store oxygen in their muscle tissue when they dive.
The calves are nursing at this time. The mother uses muscles to pump about 50 gallons of rich milk into the baby’s mouth each day. The calf can gain a few pounds in an hour. It’s kind of like going on a cruise, when the food is as good as it is here. The mother is not feeding at this time and can lose 25 to 30 percent of her body weight after migrating, giving birth, producing milk for her baby, not eating, and then migrating north again. The calf will migrate with its mother and learn how to feed by sifting through the sediments in shallow Arctic waters. It will be weaned after 8 to 10 months.
A very spectacular cetacean behavior is the breach – when the whale launches most of its body into the air and comes down in a big splash. We can come up with many theories as to the purpose of this, but the fact remains that we really just do not know why they do it. Males, females and calves will breach, at all times of the year, under most conditions - even when they think no humans are watching. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort, and sometimes they will do it repeatedly. It is quite possible that it is a form of communication and may be like a statement or exclamation. Whether or not it is something they do just for fun, at least we certainly enjoy it.
With a full day dedicated to observing gray whales in their wintering grounds, we had the opportunity to see almost every behavior we could expect. It is a wonderful experience to watch wild animals in their natural environment, without disturbing them. When we arose this morning, there were several cow-calf pairs near the Sea Lion peacefully surfacing for breaths, with an occasional spy-hop (lifting the head vertically out of the water) by the closest mother. It was quite a sight and enough to cause us to gasp in awe. We don’t understand most of their behaviors; we can only guess at what they mean.
Out in the Zodiacs, we are closer to their level, but we still don’t see what they are doing under the water. When there are two or three adult animals swimming rapidly in close proximity and then rolling together, we can only wonder if it is mating behavior. Often we may see the flukes (tail) come out of the water during this kind of activity. Gray whales are one of only a few species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) that will regularly (but not always) “fluke-up” as they dive.
When whales rest, they lay quietly at the surface, taking a breath every so often. We call it “logging,” as the animal looks like a giant floating log. They cannot go into a deep prolonged sleep, as they must maintain some consciousness in order to contract muscles to open their blowholes. As land-dwelling mammals, it is difficult for us to understand how the whales, which have the same mammalian characteristics that we do, exist in an aquatic environment. They evolved from land-dwelling creatures millions of years ago and are now supremely adapted to living their entire lives in water.
The blowspout is usually the first way we can spot a whale at a distance. The gray whale has a bushy spout. If the whales are nearby, we will often hear them before we see them. It takes just a couple seconds for them to exhale and then inhale again when they reach the surface. The exhalation can be very explosive; the inhalation is a hollow sound. Whales exchange oxygen very efficiently when they breathe. They can also store oxygen in their muscle tissue when they dive.
The calves are nursing at this time. The mother uses muscles to pump about 50 gallons of rich milk into the baby’s mouth each day. The calf can gain a few pounds in an hour. It’s kind of like going on a cruise, when the food is as good as it is here. The mother is not feeding at this time and can lose 25 to 30 percent of her body weight after migrating, giving birth, producing milk for her baby, not eating, and then migrating north again. The calf will migrate with its mother and learn how to feed by sifting through the sediments in shallow Arctic waters. It will be weaned after 8 to 10 months.
A very spectacular cetacean behavior is the breach – when the whale launches most of its body into the air and comes down in a big splash. We can come up with many theories as to the purpose of this, but the fact remains that we really just do not know why they do it. Males, females and calves will breach, at all times of the year, under most conditions - even when they think no humans are watching. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort, and sometimes they will do it repeatedly. It is quite possible that it is a form of communication and may be like a statement or exclamation. Whether or not it is something they do just for fun, at least we certainly enjoy it.
