There are many whale species throughout the world’s oceans. The largest is the blue whale, with some as long as 100 feet and weighing about 100 tons. The smallest is the Orca, or killer whale, about 30 feet long and weighing 10 tons. Between the two sizes is the gray whale. Its name comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark, slate-colored skin. (Newborns are a darker gray to black in color.) It is about half the size of the blue whale but is still very large. Some reach 50 feet in length and weigh 40 tons. These gray whales are found only in the Pacific Ocean, from the Arctic to Mexico, and a small number near Korea.
The grays are one of several species known as baleen whales. These whales have no teeth, but they have horny plates called baleen (or whalebone) which hang in two rows from the upper jaw to strain out the food from the water. They eat by scooping up mud from the ocean bottom into their mouths and straining out whatever food is hidden in the mud—mostly a mixture called plankton, which is small sea animals and sea plants.
Closing their mouths on these big bites, their tongues press out the muddy water, and the food is held back by the baleen strainers for swallowing. This is another example of the wonders of God’s creation, for the throat of the gray whale is not big enough to swallow large pieces of food, nor does it have any teeth to chew with. The baleen strainer takes care of this perfectly, and the whales get all the food they need this way. Of course, the Creator could have made them with large throats and teeth, but we often see the unusual in creation, which tells of His delight in creating a great variety of living things. The gray whale is just another example of His wonderful creativity.
These whales spend the summer months feeding on this nutritious food in the northern Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Alaska, up beyond the Aleutian Islands and on into the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska. But in winter those areas are covered with heavy layers of ice and icebergs, and the whales, being mammals, cannot survive without coming up frequently for air and so would not be able to live beneath that frozen cover.
Because of this, they migrate south in the fall and then back north in the spring. When they return north, there are many more due to a great number of young ones born while they are in the warm southern waters. We will look in more detail at these migrations in our next issue.
(to be continued)
ML-08/16/2015