The Gray Whale
S. Leatherwood
The gray whale, or Eschrichtius robustus can grow up to 14.1
meters. Females grow to be the larger sex. The larger whales may weigh up
to two and a half tons per meter, reaching a maximum of over 35 tons. Named
for it's skin tone, the whale is a mottled gray with many barnacles thriving
on it. It is a baleen whale and has 130 to 180 baleen plates in it's mouth.
The gray whale reaches sexual maturity at about eleven or twelve
meters in length, which may be from age five to age eleven. New calves
range about 4.9 meters in length. Females have calves every two years,
from January to March. The calf is weaned at about nine months old, before
fall migration arrives. The gray whale may dive for up to fifteen minutes,
but usually repeats an up and down cycle with dives of three or four
minutes. They can swim at about six to eight kilometers per hour, mothers
with calves travel slightly slower. Gray whales are found in three general
places. The North Atlantic, Western Pacific (near Korea), and the Eastern
Pacific (near California). Returning from the brink of extinction, the
estimated numbers of gray whales is around fifteen thousand. Frequent attack
by sharks and killer whales keep the numbers low, but they are higher
than they were previously.
Andrea Vanessa & Erica @ the Advanced Technologies Academy