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Whale watching san diego1/5/2023 ![]() ![]() When the water around them is turned into a muddy slurry, they pull back their huge tongues and expand their throats, which creates a powerful suction that fills their mouths with a mixture of water, mud, and small crustaceans. Most of them are “right-handed”, but like humans, some of them are “left-handed”. Interestingly, gray whales have an individual preference for which side they roll onto. When gray whales eat, they will first dive to the sea floor and roll on their sides to stir up the sediment. Gray whales live most of their lives in the cold waters near Alaska, where they spend much of their days suction feeding in shallow waters. This whale is part of the population of gray whales that migrate from Alaska to Mexico annually, so be on the lookout for a pure white whale when they swim past San Diego this winter! DAY IN THE LIFE OF A GRAY WHALE Genetic variations do occur, such as in an albino gray whale spotted in Mexico earlier this year. Whale watching san diego skin#Newborn calves are a solid, dark, almost black color, but over the course of the whales lives, their skin will become mottled with light gray and white patches from scars and barnacles. These whales get their name from their dark gray skin. ![]() ![]() These bristles, called baleen, act as a filter to trap small organisms like plankton and krill when the whale is feeding. Gray whales are baleen whales, which means that instead of teeth, they have plates with thousands of bristle-like structures made of keratin, the same substance found in human hair and nails. They typically reach 40 feet in length when fully grown, but individuals as long as 49 feet have been recorded. The females, which are a bit larger than the males, can grow up to 45 tons, which is about as much mass as 650 humans put together (or 1.9 million hamsters, which isn’t a useful comparison, but it's a fun mental image). Gray whales are the 9th largest animal on the planet. But if you’re looking here, you’ve probably realized that the best (and most eco-friendly) way to view the migration is up close and personal in a kayak. Gray whales begin to reach Southern California in the winter, and they can be seen from any part of the West Coast, particularly on areas of land that extend out into the water. After a month and a half of swimming, they arrive in the coastal lagoons of Mexico to mate and give birth to their young. Gray whales spend much of the year in the cold waters near Alaska, but every fall they begin what is thought to be the longest migration of any animal. ![]()
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