The Whales

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The Whales
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Cetacean Classification
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Cetaceans
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Right Whales
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Right Whales

• Northern and southern are probably 1 species but
  unresolved at this point
• No external differences
• Southern Right whales are larger

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Right whale identifying characteristics

• No dorsal fin
• Heavy body, black color
• Large head ¼ body length, strongly arched up
• Bowed lower jaws close over rostrum
• Callousities on rostrum, chin , sides of head,
  lip (bonnet on rostrum)
• Flippers large and broad

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• PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION     The right whale is a
  large, bulky baleen whale of unusual appearance.
  Its upper and lower jaws are highly curved,
  allowing its long baleen plates to be enclosed
  while swimming. Its rostrum (upper jaw) is narrow
  and is often covered by "callosities," hardened
  patches of skin that occur in the facial area
• COLOR     Right whales are black all over except
  for the belly, where there is often a white
  patch. Wounds and scars may appear bright orange
  because they become infested with whale lice, or
  cyamids. The callosities, which are also found
  near the blowholes, above the eyes, and on the
  chin and upper lip, are black or gray but appear
  white because of cyamid coverage.

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Eating and Migration

• Right whales feed by skimming through
  concentrations of krill.
• Right whales spend spring, summer, and autumn at
  high latitude feeding grounds and migrate to more
  southerly, warmer waters in winter for mating and
  calving.
• Northern and southern populations do not
  interbreed due to asynchronous seasons between
  the hemispheres

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Right Whale Surface characteristics
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Right Whale Range temperate waters
worldwidelargest group winters off Argentina
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Reproduction

• After a one-year gestation period, females give
  birth to a single calf in winter.
• Calves are 5-6 m in length at birth but grow
  rapidly during the subsequent period of
  lactation, which lasts about 13 months.
• Calves remain with their mothers for 2-3 years
  following weaning and probably reach sexual
  maturity at about 10 years of age.
• Females give birth at 2 to 7 year intervals.

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The right whale to hunt

• they are slow swimmers and were thus easily
  caught,
• floated when dead, and produced large
• quantities of oil and baleen.
• Consequently, right whales were decimated early
  by the worlds whaling industries and have yet to
  recover.

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LENGTH AND WEIGHT

• Adult right whales are generally 35-55 feet
  (10.7-16.8 m) long. The largest individuals known
  have measured 60 feet (18.3 m) long and weighed
  117 tons (106,500 kg).
• Females are larger than males.

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Right Whale Behaviors

• Slow swimmers
• Tendency to form herds of 20 to 100
• Recovery of numbers is slow
• The species may not recover

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Bowhead Whales
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Bowhead Whale

• 65 feet long 110 tons 14 foot baleen
• Protected since 1935
• Pre-exploitation population 65,000
• Todays population 7000 all in the Artic Ocean
• Main diet - plankton

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Bowhead Whaleidentifying characteristics

• Heavy body, black in color
• Enormous head 1/3 body length
• Strongly bowed lower jaw encloses lower jaw
• White vest on chin

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Length and Weight

• Adult males reach physical maturity at 50 feet
  (15 m) and may weigh in excess of 60 tons (54,431
  kg). Sexual maturity is reached at 38 feet (11.6
  m).
• Adult females are slightly larger than males at
  both physical and sexual maturity. Maximum length
  exceeds 60 feet (18.3 m).

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Bowhead surface characteristics
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Bowhead range Artic Ocean onlythey have an
affinity to the edge of the polar ice cap
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Bowhead behaviors hunting

• Singly or in groups up to 6
• American Inuit (Eskimos) still hunt them as of
  1990 they were allowed 24 strikes/year
• Allowable strikes 9667, 9766 9865
• Total kill 95-98 204
• 2000 42

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Pygmy Right Whales
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• PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION     Although the pygmy right
  whale is classified with the other right whales
  (northern and southern right whales and the
  bowheads), the only feature that all these
  species have in common is the shape of the mouth.
  Its upper jaw is arched while the lower jaw is
  bowed - a feature that seems to become more
  pronounced with age. Its lower jaw extends
  slightly beyond the upper jaw. Two indistinct
  grooves are situated lengthwise in the area of
  the throat which are similar to the throat
  grooves of the gray whale. This whale has a small
  head which takes up only 1/4 its total body
  length. The blow is small and not very
  noticeable. There are 210-230 baleen plates on
  each side of the pygmy right whale's upper jaw.
  These plates are yellowish-white with a dark
  brown marginal band on the edge. The baleen
  plates are up to 27 inches long (69 cm) and are
  said to be more flexible and stronger than those
  of any other species of baleen whale. On the side
  of the body, the animal has two distinct
  stripe-like coloration "chevrons."

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Pygmy Right Whale

• 21 feet long 5 tons is the largest ever known
• Population numbers unknown
• Rare whales no numbers available
• Not hunted too small

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Pygmy Right Whale identifying characteristics

• Bowed lower jaw
• Small head for a Right Whale
• Small dorsal fin
• Black color
• Flippers usually far
• back on body

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LENGTH AND WEIGHT    

• The length of both sexes averages 20 feet (6.1
  m).
• The largest known female pygmy right whale was
  recorded at 21 feet (6.4 m).
• The weight of this whale has been estimated at
  about 5 tons (4500 kg).
• Males are slightly smaller than females.

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Pygmy Right Whale Rangeall southern hemisphere
S. Australia to S. Africa
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Pygmy Right Whale behaviors

• Only 1 whale ever seen alive
• 30 dead whales have been examined by scientists

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• STATUS     Population past or present is not
  known. Whether there aren't very many of them or
  whether their habits make them difficult to be
  seen is a matter of speculation. These whales
  have never been hunted commercially or by
  aboriginal hunters.

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LENGTH AND WEIGHT

•  Adult males reach lengths of 49-59 feet (15-18
  m) and weigh up to 35-45 tons (31,750-40,800
  kgs).
• Adult females are much smaller, growing to about
  36 feet (11 m) and a maximum weight of 13-14 tons
  (12,000-12,700 kg).

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Sperm Whale NATURAL HISTORY

• The sperm whale is the deepest diver of the great
  whales and can descend to depths of over 3,300
  feet (1000 m) and stay submerged for over an
  hour. Average dives are 20-50 minutes long to a
  depth of 980-1,970 feet (300-600 m).
• At such great depths there is little or no solar
  light. However, organisms at these depths may
  produce biochemical light (bioluminescence).
  Sperm whales use their highly developed
  echolocation ability to locate food and to
  navigate, making nearly constant clicking sounds
  that pulse through the water. Sperm whales
  communicate using "morse-code" like patterns of
  clicks called codas.
• There is also a theory that sperm whales may stun
  their prey with a burst of sound.