Massive sea creatures visit Chateaubelair

by AMOS GLASGOW Tue, May 15. 2012

Two weeks ago some residents of Chateaubelair had the privilege of witnessing a rare occurence in the Chateaubelair harbour.{{more}}

A mother whale and her calf passed by and put on a display for a while for those present to see. On May 5, this spectacle was repeated when another mother whale and her calf were sighted about 7:00 a.m. in the harbour. This time the news spread like wildfire and, for nearly two hours, they were seen from off the Chateaubelair

wharf to Fitz Hughes bay, surfacing, breathing and just gently diving, repeating this cycle just about every 15 or 20 minutes. People came from every corner of the community. many of them were children, some with their parents.

As the crowd saw the displays, you could hear the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as persons reacted to this first time experience.

Many and varied were the comments: “That ah one boat,” exclaimed a young man. “This is nature at its best”, declared a lady “You better na pass ah Bequia,” joked another.

Some wondered what they ate, if they ate people. These questions were answered by those of us who knew a bit more about these creatures.

Whales are warm-blooded, just like humans (body temperature 96 degrees), but have a very thick layer of fat (blubber) to insulate them from the arctic water of the oceans where they feed.

Most whales migrate to the warmer tropical waters for breeding and birthing their babies. Whales become pregnant and have live calves. Gestation period is about 11 months for Humpback Whales. Females produce milk to feed their young, just like humans. Calves are born with no body fat. They drink mother’s milk, which is about 50% fat, gain weight and create an insulation layer very quickly. Calves gain about seven pounds per hour for the first month. The main diet of Humpback Whales consists of a variety of prey such as krill, herring, capelin, sardines, mackerel, sand lance, and other small schooling fish.

Some whales can swim at speeds over 20 miles per hour. This allows them to migrate from tropical waters, like Hawaii, to the colder waters, like Alaska in as few as 30 days. There is less oxygen and more salt in tropical waters and therefore less plant growth and less prey species for food. For this reason the whales must migrate to colder waters where food is abundant.

http://www.mersea.com/Humpback_info.htm