A Whale of a Trip
Migrations occur throughout the animal kingdom, from insects to birds, from fish to whales. Some animals travel for food, some for shelter, and some for mating or to give birth. Here we'll take a look at some of the world’s lengthiest marine migrations, undertaken by some of the planet’s largest animals.
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Why They Journey
Each of the 80 whale species has its own migration patterns, and even those can differ based on gender. Generally speaking, in the winter the whales move from the polar region, where food is plentiful, to tropical waters in order to mate or give birth. Since the seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are opposite, two distinct whale populations often travel from their respective polar regions to the same tropical waters, but at different times.
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Humpback Whale
The warm waters near the Dominican Republic, Panama, Australia and Costa Rica are the most popular breeding and calving grounds for the humpback. In the late winter or early spring, mothers in the northern populations take their calves even further north towards the Gulf of Maine or Alaska, and eventually to the Arctic. Southern populations travel along South American, African, and Australian coasts between Antarctica in the summer and their favored tropical waters in the winter. A typical migration can be up to 16,000 miles (27,500 km) in one year, making humpbacks the winner for the longest migration.
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Southern Right Whale
As their name suggests, this population of right whales travels back and forth primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. They feed in Antarctica in the summer and then head to their breeding and calving areas in the winter along the coasts of Africa, South America, Southern Australia and the western coast of New Zealand.
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Grey Whale
Just slightly shorter than the humpback migration is the gray whale migration. The largest population regularly travels over 13,000 miles (20,000 km) annually between their breeding and calving grounds in Baja California in the winter to the Bering Sea in the summer for feeding. A few of the younger whales make shorter journeys, preferring to hang out off the coasts of Oregon and Washington instead of heading all the way north. A second, smaller population travels between the Sea of Okhotsk in the summer and their southern Korean winter breeding and calving grounds, but this population is dwindling. Despite their great range, a couple hundred gray whales have made the area around Vancouver Island home and remain there year-round.
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Blue Whale
The largest animals in the world, blue whales have a few distinct populations. Like the humpbacks and right whales, northern and southern populations of blues travel from their respective polar regions to their favored tropical waters. One population is seen between the Azores and Iceland from spring to July and August, but researchers aren’t sure where they winter. As for the Southern Hemisphere, there are several breeding and calving grounds in Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, Timor and Madagascar, where both the Antarctic blue whales and the pygmy blue whales migrate in the winter after spending the summer in Antarctica feeding.
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Northern Right Whale
While they don’t travel as far as the others on the list, the northern right whales migrate for the same reasons. In the winter, females generally give birth in the southeastern United States, near the coasts of Florida and Georgia. Males and females that aren’t pregnant are rarely seen in those waters. In the spring and summer, they migrate north towards Cape Cod and Massachusetts Bay, then onward to the Bay of Fundy and towards Nova Scotia. Researchers believe there is another population in the North Atlantic but have yet to determine for certain.
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Catch Them Along the Way
If you're interested in catching sight of, diving or snorkeling with some of these majestic animals, knowing when and where they migrate will help. But, you'll still need to do some research to determine which coasts will have the best views, and what companies offer the best results while maintaining an approach that keeps the animal's best interests at the forefront.
