Southern Right Whale

Common Predators People. Calves are vulnerable to Killer Whales and Great White Shark.

What Is a Southern Right Whale?

The Southern Right Whale is so named as it was the ‘right' whale to hunt. Whales were hunted during the 1800's for their meat, baleen - teeth (used for boning in corsets, making umbrellas and brushes) and oil. The Southern Right Whales were targeted as they swim slowly, often close to the shoreline and float when they are dead. Although the Southern Right Whale has been protected from hunting by a World Moratorium declared in 1986, it is still classified as endangered. It has made a slow recovery from a possible population in the Southern Hemisphere of 60,000 in the early 1800s to an estimated 1,500 today, increasing by approximately 7% per year.

Wales are essentially divided into two groups by the way they feed; baleen whales and toothed whales. The Southern Right Whale is a baleen whale (filter feeder) which uses it's baleen to sieve tiny marine crustaceans from the sea. They are primarily a migratory species, needing to travel to the Antarctic waters in summer when their prey is most plentiful.

The female is slightly larger than the male and may grow to 18 metres in length and weigh 80 tons. They are black, dark brown or grey, with white patches on their belly, no dorsal fin and they have white skin callosities (raised rough patches of skin) on their broad head that form individual identifiable patterns. Southern Right Whales breathe air at the surface of the water through two V-shaped blowholes. It is thought that Southern Right Whales probably have excellent hearing, especially at low frequencies which is valuable in the dark ocean environment where vision is less useful. They communicate through a series of moans and burping sounds.

The Southern Right Whale has an affinity for coastal inshore waters, sometimes approaching as close as 100 metres from shore, this makes them ideal for land based whale watching. Their playful antics provide hours of entertainment. They may be seen spy hopping (when they raise their head out of the water to have a look around), slapping their tails, and breaching which is a spectacular display where the whale's whole body is launched out of the water and thunders down with a crash.

Where Does a Southern Right Whale Live?

Southern Right Whales favour warmer waters in winter for breeding and return to Polar Regions in summer for feeding.

They come to protected bays and coves to either find a mate or give birth and raise their calves. Southern Right Wales are sighted in Australia from Stradbroke Island in the north, around the entire southern coastline including Tasmania to Exmouth in Western Australia. No sightings have been recorded in the Northern Territory. Warrnambool, Victoria is a popular nursery site for the Whales.

What Does a Southern Right Whale Eat?

Southern right whales feed predominantly on copepods, krill and other swarming zooplankton.

A Southern Right Whale's Family Life

Southern Right Whales are classified as mammals and the females generally breed once every 3-5 years from the age of 5-8 years.

Mating among these whales is a complex affair. For the male there is much chasing and manoeuvring, whilst fending off the interference of competing males who push and shove or gouge with their rough callosities. Successful mating is only obtained by a persistent male as the female will often roll onto her back in order to foil the advances of the competing males.

After 12 months gestation a calf of 5 metres in length and 1 ton in weight is born tail first. The calf is suckled by its mother with milk that contains up to 40% fat which no doubt contributes to their rapid growth of approximately 60 kilogram per day. The calf stays close to its mother for several months as it develops its swimming skills and is protected by the mother from predators such as the Killer Whale or the Great White Shark. Within a year the calf is weaned and independent.

The fact that calves grow 60 kilograms per day from their mothers' milk is quite remarkable given that Southern Right Whale mothers fast for the 4-6 months they are in their breeding and nursery grounds. Hence it is not surprising that females have a greater body mass than males and that they breed only every 3-5 years.

Southern Right Whales seem to belong to separate breeding groups and travel to their own areas to reproduce. This has resulted in family groups that have distinctive markings.

Identified threats to the Southern Right Whale include the continuation of scientific whaling and habitat degradation (noise pollution, entanglement, etc). Potential threats include climate and oceanographic change (global warming) and depletion of krill, their major food source.

Want to Know More?

www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/right_whale.htm

www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=314

www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/recovery/e-australis/index.html