While working on an article for Towing & Recovery Footnotes about North County Recovery & Towing's gray whale recovery, I learned a lot of facts about them. Here's a bit of what I learned from National Geographic and the National Marine Fisheries Service - NOAA Fisheries:
The gray whale is one of the animal kingdom's great migrators. Some swim up 12,430 miles, annually, round-trip from Alaskan waters to warmer waters off of the Mexican coasts.
Gray whales travel in groups called pods.
Gray whales winter and breed in shallow southern waters and balmier climates.
Some gray whales live in the seas near Korea.
Gray whales surface to breathe, so migrating groups are often spotted from North America's west coast.
Gray whales were once the target of extensive hunting, and by early in the 20th century they were in serious danger of extinction. Now, though, gray whales are protected by international law, and their numbers have grown. In 1994, the gray whale was removed from the United States endangered species list.
Gray whales are now found only in the North Pacific along the West Coast of North America and along the coast of eastern Asia.
Each fall, the North American whales migrate south to Baja California, in Mexico, most of them starting in November or December.
Gray whales winter mainly along the west coast of Baja California, where calves are born in lagoons and bays from early January to mid-February.
The gray whale's northbound migration generally begins in mid-February and continues through May, with cows and newborn calves migrating northward primarily between March and June.
Information obtained from the National Geographic and Alaska Fisheries Science Center (National Marine Fisheries Service - NOAA Fisheries) websites.
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