Volunteers having a blast in Plettenberg Bay. The Volunteers went Kayaking in the bay and Alex loved to capsize the kayah.
During their trip, they were very privileged in viewing several Southern right Whales including a very rare white calve.
The Southern Right Whales come into Plettenberg Bay this time of the year and have traveled 5131 kms from the Antarctica to mate and calve their young.
Do you know that Southern Right whales can weigh up to 65 tons
The Southern Right Whales differs from most other whales in the following ways:
1. Its has no dorsal fin on its back
2. The presence of callosities on its head. The placement and pattern is unique to each whale and enables whale experts to indivdually identify the whales. Callosities emerge shortly after birth and are not well established till 7-10 months. The height can change through the whales’ life, growing upwards and can break off
3. They have 205-270 Baleen plates each about 2m in length.
4. The Northern and Southern right whales are very similar, although it appears that the two populations never mix. Northern rights go north to the Arctic to feed at the same time that the Southern rights move north toward warmer waters to calve and breed, and when southern rights go south to the Antarctic to feed the northern rights move southward toward warmer waters to calve and breed.
If you would like to see good pictures of these Southern rights, visit our ORCA Foundation facebook page.
