Part 1

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WHALE PRIMER

_With Special Attention to_ THE CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE

_by Theodore J. Walker_

Published by the Cabrillo Historical Association 1962

Produced in cooperation with the National Park Service

Copyright© Cabrillo Historical Association 1962

Second Printing 1965 Third Printing 1967 Fourth Printing 1969

Contents

INTRODUCTION 1 TWO GENERAL MIGRATION ROUTES 2 WHALE WATERS--SUMMER AND WINTER 5 FEEDING--FILTER WHALES 6 EVOLUTION OF WHALES 10 Breathing Adaptations 10 Swimming Adaptations 11 WHALE TYPES 15 Porpoises and Dolphins 15 Squid Eaters 18 Filter Whales 18 SIGNIFICANCE OF BLUBBER 19 Heat Conservation 19 Buoyancy 20 Food Storage 20 SEXUAL MATURITY 21 LIFE SPAN 21 WHALE INTELLIGENCE 23 WHALE SENSES 23 Sight 23 Hearing 23 Smell 24 HABITS 24 ENEMIES 25 Killer Whales 25 Parasites 25 WHALE ABNORMALITIES 26 INADEQUATE KNOWLEDGE OF WHALES 26 CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE 28 Evolutionary Place 28 Geographic Distribution 29 Shore Habits 30 Scientific Description 31 Reaction to Whaling 33 How Do They Sleep? 33 Migration Groupings 34 Breaching 35 WHALING 36 Whalers As Explorers 37 Prehistoric Whaling 37 Historic Whaling 39 Modern Whaling 42 EXAMPLE OF UNREGULATED WHALING 47 California Gray Whale 47 GRAY WHALE PROTECTED 48 VALUE OF GRAY WHALE 48 Esthetic 48 Scientific 49 Commercial 49 NATURAL POPULATION CONTROLS 51 CURRENT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY 52 Life Expectancy 52 Age Determination 52 Distribution and Population Rise 53 APPENDIX 55

Introduction

The WHALE PRIMER provides a brief introduction to one of nature's most interesting creations, the whale. The principal star of the handbook is the California gray whale which in recent years has become a major tourist attraction in southern California. Notwithstanding the extreme interest, no concise interpretation of the migration has been prepared. Although there is a tremendous number of technical and popular writings about whales, there is still great mystery about them. Whales carry on practically their entire lives below the surface of the sea out of reach of man, so that most of our knowledge has been pieced together from the study of the bodies of slaughtered whales. The literature abounds in partial truths, misinterpretations and technicalities which confuse even the specialists. Many of the sources of information require translation.

Furthermore, many of these papers were published in journals of limited distribution. Others are long since out of print, and much of the primary historic records can be found by examination of records which exist only in one particular library. In the preparation of this manuscript, hundreds of books and over 4,000 papers were catalogued, of which the most important were available, and examined. The author was particularly fortunate to have Japanese and Russian friends who gave gladly of their time to insure coverage of these important papers.

The author deliberately made an extreme condensation of the facts in order to prevent the reader from being overwhelmed by details that merely obscure the broad picture. It is hoped that the reader will gain an awareness of the extreme mastery by whales of the marine environment. Other basic concepts of biology, which are clearly illustrated by the natural history of whales, are developed.

The intense interest and pleasure which the sight of the migrating whale creates clearly overshadows the brief monetary benefit that the whaling industry might gain from slaughtering it. We hope that you will be stimulated to join forces with those of us who feel that man should preserve those forms of life which add so much interest, beauty, and knowledge to man's awareness.

Two General Migration Routes

The migration of the California gray whale is one of the most remarkable natural history events in the world today. The majority of these whales journey southward just off the shore of southern California and Lower California during January and February. Although a few early migrants may pass San Diego early in December, they are not abundant until Christmas. An occasional straggler can be sighted in March.

Only 20 years ago this species was so rare, that little hope was held that it could ever recover. Today the species appears out of danger, thanks to international cooperation among the whaling nations which stopped the slaughter of this truly unique whale. Now it is not at all unusual to see between 50 and 75 whales a day during the peak of the migration.

One of the finest locations for viewing this migration is the Cabrillo National Monument which commands an almost aerial view of the coastline. Here individual whales can be watched for at least 1 hour, as they hove into view from the north and at last recede to the southeast along the Silver Strand. The first and only public observatory for whales was established at the monument in 1951. The naturalist on duty not only keeps a plot of the whales passing by, but also helps visitors find their first whale. The observatory is one of the most popular wintertime attractions in southern California. With so many pairs of eyes on hand, it is not surprising that the count of whales is remarkably complete. There is no other marine animal which can be seen with such certainty in its natural element.

Migrating animals have always fascinated man who considered them harbingers of the seasons. Man continues to puzzle over the mysteries of how these animals are able to navigate so precisely and how they are able to maintain such timetables. Whereas other migrating animals pass broadly through an area, the California gray whales, at least on the final part of the route, are passing along just outside the surf zone, virtually single file! It is hard to realize that 3 months earlier these whales started off from their summer quarters in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea, as well as along the shore of Siberia and Kamchatka en route to their winter quarters in the lagoons and harbors along the outer coast of Lower California. Between these two areas lie 6,000 miles of seemingly trackless ocean. With the advent of spring the whales must be on their way back again to their summer grounds.

Although all the large whales make such extensive travels, except the bowhead, only the gray whale spends so much time in sight of land. The other species are truly oceanic at all times, and never seem abundant because of the vastness of the oceans. Like the gray whale they congregate in polar seas during the summer months, moving into temperate and subtropical waters for the winter months. To this day, much of the migration route is unknown. Perhaps some day a scientist will attempt to trail a group of whales along the entire route. The tendency of the gray whale to hug the coast is manifest only within 600 miles of the destination. This may be a precautionary routing which prevents the whales from making their landfall south of the lagoons. Such an error in navigation would not only prolong the migration, but leave the whales on the horns of a dilemma--to swim on south or turn back?

Whale Waters--Summer and Winter

One cannot help but be impressed with the remarkable utilization of time by the whales whose lives seem to be divided into two principal seasons, a summer feeding period and a winter period of reproduction. Each of these major activities is preceded by a tremendously long migration. Nearly half of every year must be devoted to this activity. Considering the extreme length of the migration, whales cannot wander aimlessly or carelessly. Whales which summer in the Antarctic continue to do so as do the whales in the Arctic waters, and only rarely does one pass through the wide belt of equatorial water to venture into the other hemisphere.

Once on the summer grounds the whales occupy themselves with feeding almost continuously during the long polar day. Even though the food is patchy, the whales seem to find it quickly, spending a minimum of time in search. By the onset of autumn, they are fat, and all the babies are weaned.

It is uncanny that the various species all manifest the instinctive reaction to vacate this region at the proper time, thus avoiding almost certain death by the freezing of the sea's surface. Again the seeming miracle of aptness is evident, for the whales swim unerringly out of the dangerous areas toward warmer and calmer seas. Because of the extremely wide band of winter storms, whales must move at least below 30° latitude to be clear of the areas of stormy seas. Migration stops as soon as they are sufficiently clear of these. Whales then undertake the other essential link in the chain of life, reproduction. By spring the babies are strong enough and fat enough to accompany their mothers.

Feeding--Filter Whales

Whales do not feed extensively while migrating. For the most part there is not time enough, nor is the food plentiful enough to make it worth the effort. However, in the polar seas the whale's food is plentiful enough to discolor the water. On close examination, the discoloration proves to be caused by thousands of tiny shrimps which are very slender and less than one-half inch in length. These creatures congregate in swarms near the surface to feed on microscopic plants known as diatoms. The whales need only swim back and forth through these cloudlike aggregations to fill their mouths quickly with water and shrimp. With each mouthful, the water is expelled between the jaws through a mat of fibers which hangs down from the upper jaw. The shrimps, which are retained on the mat, fall down onto the tongue and are swallowed. The work of pushing out several tons of water with each feeding is done by the tremendous tongue.

The fiber mats are the frayed inner side of enormous hornlike plates which grow down from the palate. The main body of each plate is placed edgewise to the outgoing water so that many plates are required to complete the mat which runs from the tip of the jaw to the corner of the mouth. These plates vary in size and stiffness from species to species. Some of the plates from the mouth of the bowhead whale are 12-14 feet in length, whereas in the finback whale the plates are 2-4 feet. There can be over 200 plates per side in the filtering structure. The frayed inner edge is constantly breaking off and the plates keep growing and fraying to provide the necessary thickness for the mat. Technically, these plates are called _baleen_. They were called whalebone by the whalers, and that is the name which is still used in commerce. The plates have no relationship to bones, nor could they be mistaken for them. The whalebone was assiduously collected and sold to be made into a variety of objects such as umbrella stays, corset stays, buggy whips and other articles which today are made of steel or plastic. There was a great demand for the product and a bowhead whale produced over a ton and one-half of whalebone valued back in the 17th century at over 400 English pounds, equivalent to about $10,000 today.

It has been observed that the coarseness and thickness of the baleen is suited to the size of the food which is filtered. For example, the rorqual or Sei whale, which feeds on tiny shrimp species, has a filtering surface which resembles fine wool. The blue whale, which feeds on the largest of shrimps and on fish, has the coarsest filter. Generally, fish occur only in the diets of the blue, finback and other rorqual which swim fast enough to engulf them. Here, the fish are weak-swimming, schooling fishes. The gray whale, unlike the other filter feeders, feeds on bottom-frequenting crustaceans known technically as amphipods. These organisms, occurring principally in shallow water, keep the gray whales close to the shores of Siberia and Kamchatka.

In order for a whale to be able to exist on a 3 to 4 month feeding period, it must have not only ample food, but time in which to collect it. Although the whales may not all be far enough north to have a 24-hour day, there is enough twilight to let them feed the clock around. In order to take advantage of the prodigious amounts of food available, whales have a huge four-chambered stomach. It is not at all uncommon to find 5 to 10 wheelbarrow loads of shrimp in the stomach. No one yet knows how fast the food passes through the alimentary tract.

The shrimps on which the whales thrive are not uniformly concentrated, but occur at special places where oceanographic processes have enriched the surface waters with cold, nutrient-rich, subsurface water. The principal oceanographic action which enriches the water at the surface is called upwelling. It can be induced by a number of physical conditions. One of the best places to look for upwelling is along the edge of the polar icecaps and along the junction of strong currents. Upwelling is one of the ways nature refertilizes the surface waters which are otherwise deficient in nutrients. Whenever the ocean surface is fertilized, the microscopic plants begin to grow and multiply, discoloring the water to a brownish or reddish color. If the subsurface waters continue to be pumped to the surface, the growth continues and a rich ocean pasture results. The animals which begin to crop this are the shrimps, and when they have thrived and reproduced, there are enough for the whales. The other all-important factor in the fertility of the polar seas is the length of day, which provides ample time for the sun's energy to be entrapped by plants. By autumn, the days have shortened and night begins to predominate. At this time the microscopic plants stop growing and form resting stages which protect them through the long winter.

The whale has made such efficient use of its summer feeding period that it is fat enough to live the other 8 months without danger of starvation. Whales might be thought of as huge natural tankers carrying enough oil to provide for long periods of active fasting. Unlike those mammals which avoid starvation by winter hibernation, the whale is able to migrate away from inhospitable seas into warmer waters where they can then reproduce and care for the new young. The strain on the mother at this time must be considerable for her baby grows at a prodigious rate. It has been calculated that a blue whale baby grows about 10 pounds per hour, gaining a ton every 9 days.

Although there are at least nine species of filtering whales, each seems to be dependent on a different kind of shrimp which are seldom found together. This prevents the various species of whales from being in constant competition with each other. However, no one altogether understands why there is no competition. Of course, structurally a species may be more suited to feeding on one kind of food. The porosity of the filter plate, which varies, may account for this. The actual shape and size of the head varies from species to species and this may be related to improving the efficiency of feeding. Right whales have heads which are very large, permitting a large intake of water and the accommodation of a tremendous set of filters. These whales have heads which are enlarged both in width and length. In fact, the head may account for nearly one-third of the total body. The rorqual group are more streamlined and have proportionately smaller heads. To make up for this limitation, the floor of the mouth is pleated on the outside which permits the floor to balloon out like a huge scoop each time the mouth is filled.

The right whales, incidentally, were so named by the early whalers to apply to those species which were suitable for whaling. The majority of whales were not molested because they sank as they died, or they were fast-moving, wary species which could not be approached with the whaler's lance.

Evolution of Whales

To appreciate fully the biology of whales, one must know that their ancestors were terrestrial mammals. It is indeed impossible to account for all the steps which were necessary for this difficult reentry of the oceans. However, the fossil records for whales are numerous and permit at least a partial reconstruction of the evolutionary steps. Whales have obtained not only complete mastery of this difficult habitat, but also they have spread out to crop a variety of marine foods. Biologists have generally dramatized the earlier conquest of land by marine organisms, leaving the more recent and perhaps more difficult reentry of the marine world by whales to go unnoticed.

_Breathing Adaptations_

Not only have whales become completely aquatic, but they have been able to eliminate nearly all the design features which were necessary for life on land. Only the retention of air breathing remains, and this does not seem to be much of a hardship. There has been a great improvement in the conservation of oxygen so that really long dives are possible. The subtlety of this accomplishment is only partially understood by scientists. Apparently, diving mammals are able to shut down those bodily activities which contribute little to the diving mission. These activities can go on later when oxygen is available. It is also normal to incur an oxygen debt by borrowing from stockpiles present in the tissue fluids and muscles. After a long dive a whale will idle at the surface in order to completely free the body of the excess carbon dioxide, and to pay back the oxygen debt. The greater the debt the longer the surfacing, and the greater the number of breaths which must be taken.

When a whale surfaces to breathe, the act of exhaling is called "blowing." Whenever a whale has been submerged for a normal dive, the air in the lungs becomes saturated with moisture from the blood. The exhalation of this spent air is accomplished very quickly by forcing the air out under pressure by the diaphragm, and the sudden expansion of the expelled air produces sufficient cooling to condense the moisture. This cloud or fog is the most conspicuous feature of a surfaced whale, particularly when the spout is 10 to 15 feet in height. Within a minute's time the fog is usually scattered and heated enough to disappear. The duration of the spout depends principally on the temperature of the surrounding air, the amount of moisture condensed from the breath and the local surface wind. At the higher latitudes air temperatures are low enough that the spout may persist for several minutes. It is possible to recognize some of the whale species by the form and size of the spout.

Inhalation is accomplished very quickly. The breathing act is generally both visible and audible. The release of air produces a very loud "whoosh" which can be heard for quite a distance on a quiet day. The nostrils are called blowholes. In order to facilitate breathing, they have been moved from the tip of the snout to the top of the head (with the exception of the sperm whale), to prevent waves from flooding the lungs. During diving, the pressure of the water operates on the nostril in such a way as to close the nostril from the outside so that regardless of depth there can be no leak. The natural buoyancy of the animal exposes enough of the head to keep the nostrils clear of the waves.

The nostrils communicate directly to the lungs rather than share a portion of the throat as is customary in other air-breathing vertebrates. This means that the whale's mouth and throat can be full of water without danger of flooding the lungs, and that it is unnecessary to empty such a spacious cavern prior to breathing. Furthermore, it is unlikely that a whale could keep his mouth closed enough to prevent flooding through the baleen because there is no upper lip over this device.