Grey Whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon
Country: Mexico.

The first friendly encounter between a whale and a man was in 1979 creating a bond between this two species. Men's curiosity for this encounters lead to a conservationist consciousness toward this specie, the animals that share the ecosystem and their habitat.

Mexico declared San Ignacio Lagoon a gray whale sanctuary in 1979, whale watching regulations were promulgated with the purpose of protecting the breeding areas. This lagoon is the third biggest breeding lagoon and the less inhabited by humans.

Each year from April to December the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) migrates 5490 miles from the Bering Sea in Alaska to South Baja California to breed and mate. After doing the longest migration of any mammal they arrive to their main destiny: Puerto Lopez Mateos, Black Warrior (Guerrero Negro), Scamons or San Ignacio Lagoon. The first ones to arrive are the pregnant females that have the urge to arrive to a safe place to give birth; adult males and females in mating age arrive later with the juveniles. The most common behaviors observed in the lagoons are: tails, spyhoping, mating, courtship groups and interaction between mothers and calves.

Fossil records show that gray whales inhabited the North Atlantic, today they are only found in the north Pacific where two populations are found: one that lives south of Korea and the Okhotsk Sea that migrates to the Yellow Sea, this population is much reduced. The other population lives in the Bering, Chucki and Beaufort Sea, and migrates to the Lagoons in South Baja California, Mexico. This specie was almost drawn to extinction at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century due to the whaling industry. Now a days the population has over 22 000 individuals.

Physical characteristics of the gray whales are: female adults measure 46 ft and males 42 ft, they weight 40 to 45 tons, head size in smaller in proportion to the total body length, 2 - 4 ventral grooves on the throat. There is no dorsal fin; vertebral spine is visible on the last one third of the body. The body is gray with white molting and is colonized by barnacles. The upper jaw has 280 - 360 baleens plates, they have tactile hairs on the jaws, the flipper has four phalanges, the first finger having disappeared. The average diving depth is 43 to 164 ft; and in feeding areas they can dive up to 394 ft.

Gray whales are called coastal whales because they live in between the shore and 4 miles away from the coast and they are the only whales that breed and mate in coastal lagoons were find a shelter for their calves and a peaceful areas for mating.

Form the end of May until September they feed in the Bering, Chucki and Beaufort Sea, mainly on small crustaceans called amphipods. They can eat up to one to one and a half ton of food daily. They are bottom feeders this means that they suck the bottom sediment that contains their food. Scientists have observed that right side baleen plates are more worn-out, indicating that they feed more on their right side than in their left.

Sexual maturity is reached when they are eight years old. Copulation lasts only a couple of seconds, but courtship can last for hours. Females will mate with several females to assure pregnancy.

Pregnancy lasts 13 months, they mate and breed in Mexican waters. Females can have a calf every two years. When they are born calves are about 18 ft long and weight half a ton. After birth they breathe continuously and they have to learn to coordinate breathing with swimming. At this age they are not very curious, they are focused in feeding, learning how to swim and strengthening their bodies. By March when they have grown enough mothers encourage calves to play; this is the time when calves and mothers approach the vessels to play with tourists. Lactation last 7 months, after this time calves start a more independent life away from the mother.

By mid April, when calves are ready to start migrating back north, mothers and calves congregate and form migrating groups to protect their calves form the predators such as orcas and sharks. By migrating back north to the feeding waters a biological and migrating cycle is closed. Thanks to this we are able to admire them in their different stages of life and get a close encounter with these friendly whales.

We thank Katia Galindo Albrechtsen for the content of this article. E-mail: katiaalbre@hotmail.com