Gray Whale

• It makes the longest annual migration of any mammal, up to 16,000 km there and back.
• It is described as a "living fossil", the most primitive species in its suborder.
• It feeds by actively stirring up sediment from the sea floor, which no other great whale does.
• comportamientoIt makes one of the longest known migrations of any mammal, covering more than 15,000 kilometres a year between its Arctic feeding grounds and its calving grounds in the warm waters of Baja California.
• alimentaciónIt feeds mainly by ploughing the muddy sea floor with its jaw to strain out small crustaceans, unlike most baleen whales, which take prey from the water column.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (marine mammal)

Habitat and environment

Coastal waters of the North Pacific, migrating between Arctic feeding grounds and shallow calving lagoons in warm water

Birth weight

500 - 680 kg; 4.5 m long at birth

Size at birth

4.5 m long at birth

Sexual maturity

5-11 years (average 8-9 years)

Gestation / incubation

12-14 months

Litter / clutch size

1 young, with an interval between births of 2 years or more

Sources consulted: Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game · AnAge (genomics.senescence.info) · HubPages · NOAA Fisheries · Animal Diversity Web · Wikipedia (Gray whale) · WDFW · PMC (genome transcriptome assembly study)

The pins mark the parks and dive sites where its presence is documented.