What is a gray whale? This is an old-timer of our planet, one of the most ancient marine mammals. Scientists believe that he did not always plow the expanses of the ocean. Once this whale could well live on land: modern species have retained signs of terrestrial existence. First of all, these are enlarged pelvic bones, the length of the cervical spine, a movable head and large nasal bones that are uncharacteristic of marine inhabitants.
The size and coloration of a beautiful marine mammal
In general, the gray whale is not the largest among its relatives. But still, its size impresses many. Adult females grow up to 17 m, and males are somewhat smaller - their maximum size is 14.6 m. It is clear that with such sizes they also weigh quite a lot - from 15 to 35 tons.
Interesting, but the color of the gray whale is not gray, but brown, patronizing, the color of rocks and silt, because he is a lover of shallow water. But the spots on his skin are gray, hence the name.
The mentioned marks, by the way, cause a lot of anxiety to animals. Since their origin is banal skin parasites, to which this species is more susceptible than others. To get rid of them, the whales have to perform miracles of acrobatics and rub their bodies against the bottom, practically rolling from side to side.
Helpsea dwellers to cope with this problem, some large sea birds - arctic terns and burgomaster gulls. They feast for themselves by cleaning the backs of emerging whales. If the seagulls can't cope, the sea giants have to swim into the lagoons, where fresh water kills pesky parasites.
Fish-whale from a fairy tale
In Pyotr Ershov's fairy tale "The Little Humpbacked Horse" this inhabitant of the depths is presented as a "miracle-yudo fish-whale". But the writer's fantasy is not a biological fact. The facts are actually this: not only is the whale not a monster, it is also not a fish.
If it is appropriate in relation to such giants, then we can say that their body is quite slender, arched back, short head flattened from the sides. In place of the dorsal fin there is only a small hump, short and wide dorsal fins. That is, outwardly, the gray whale is quite similar to unreal-sized fish. So it's no surprise that these sea dwellers splashing in shallow waters misled our ancestors.
The huge size and external similarity impressed people so much that they did not immediately notice the main difference in the pattern of movement. Fish make body movements in the horizontal plane, wagging their tail from side to side, and the tail and body of the animal move in the vertical plane. At one time, scientists surprised the public by declaring whales to be mammals, and today every schoolchild knows this.
Albinos in the ocean: is it true that you can see them
Can't say graythe whale is a numerous species. And albinos among them are generally such a rarity that between the last (2016) and the penultimate (2009) known case, a whole 7 years have passed.
Lucky biologists working on the Pacific coast of Mexico, they recorded the appearance of a female gray whale. It is assumed that this is a young mother.
Enemies and prospects of a marine mammal
Unfortunately, the number of these underwater giants is small. In the middle of the XIX century. California gray whales were not uncommon, the American population was 30,000-40,000 head. But by the beginning of the 20th century, it was already in danger of extinction.
The main enemy of gray whales is killer whales. By the way, these are also whales, not so large, but toothy. Killer whales are extremely organized predators and hunt only in an organized flock, otherwise they are too tough for prey like the gray whale.
The Red Book is designed to save these animals from another enemy - man. Indeed, because of their habitat in the coastal strip, they are vulnerable. A huge and very promising achievement in terms of their protection is the permission to mine off the coast of Chukotka only for small indigenous peoples and only for their own needs.
Indefatigable travelers. How are they?
Gray whales are the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean, more precisely, its northern part. Two populations are known: the Okhotsk-Korean and the Chukchi-Californian. The names of the ranges are double, because these mammals live in one place, then in another.
It is believed that the longest seasonal migrationsit is the gray whale that does it. Traveling to the place of reproduction or fattening, these giants orient themselves in a very interesting way: vertically sticking their heads out of the water, they look around, determining their position relative to the shore along which they move. And by the way, they move slowly, swimming only 10 km per hour, and in a dangerous situation accelerating to 18 km/h.
The first named population winters and breeds in the Sea of Okhotsk near the coast of South Korea, and in the summer fattens on the northeastern shelf of Sakhalin. Unfortunately, this herd is small, about 250 individuals.
The second (American) population goes to the Gulf of California for the winter. Offspring appear there, and for the future the whole herd is fattened in the Bering and Chukchi seas, occasionally looking also into the East Siberian. This herd is already as much as 26,000 heads, and although it is slowly, it is clearly recovering.
Grey whale: interesting facts about the marine life
And now some interesting facts. With their help, you will once again see how interesting the gray whale is. Information for children and adults will be equally useful.
It turns out that gray whales, like people, are right-handed and left-handed. At first it's hard to believe, but if you think about it, everything is absolutely logical: if they are mammals, then the dominant hemisphere of their brain may well determine their so-called right-handedness and left-handedness. True, in the case of whales, this is recognized by abrasions on the left or right on the muzzle: where there are more of them, they dig silt on the bottom of the sea on that side,getting food. There are not very many left-handed people, most of them are right-handed.
If there are those who wish, then the whales can be fingerprinted. More precisely, “tailoscopy”: the pattern of the tail of each animal is individual, like the papillary patterns of human fingers.
In just one year, a gray whale can swim up to 18,000 km.
And the most interesting thing is that only these mammals can stay on the coast at low tide without harm. They dry up and then swim away safely at high tide.
Conclusion
Now you know who the gray whale is. We hope that the information presented in the article was useful to you and helped you understand how defenseless and vulnerable this powerful animal is and how much our world will lose if it loses gray whales.
