NM Ballena Franca Austral
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 7:35 am. Add a comment
After being widely hunted for nearly 300 years, the Southern Right Whale finally received international protection in 1937 by the International Whaling Committee. Since then, the population of this once extremely endangered animal has been on the upswing, helped by the creation of Argentina’s National Monument of the Southern Right Whale in 1984.
Southern Right Whales are baleen whales with a bow-shaped lower jaw, and their heads are up to a quarter of the 15-meter body length. They are skimmers, with filters in their mouths that allow krill, their main food source, into their mouths as they slowly swim. Occasionally, they are also bottom-feeders, eating from the mud on the ocean floor.
Franca Austral Whale
Right Whales were originally named so because whalers considered them to be the “right” whales to hunt: rich in blubber, slow swimmers (making them easy to catch), and they float when they are killed.
Today, this species is thriving, and can be seen during certain times of the year off the Peninsula Valdés, on the Patagonian coast. Around the end of April, some 450 to 600 whales arrive in the San José Gulf and Nuevo Gulf, looking for shallower water in which to give birth. They stay there for the duration of the winter, and part of the spring, at which point the travel south for deeper waters for their summer feeding.
The normal gestation period for the Southern Right Whale is 12 months, and newborns are around 5 to 6 meters long, and can swim within the first 30 minutes of life. About 200 whales are born each year, between July and October, and they are nursed for about 1 year.
The closest city for seeing these majestic creatures is Puerto Madryn. From there, on Doradillo Beach, you can see the whales off the coast. Youc an also check for Puerto Pirámides in this Argentina travel guide, where more whale watching can be done.
In Argentina, the entire Southern Right Whale species is considered a National Monument, which grants the whale absolute protection. In addition, different provinces have taken further measures for greater protection; the Chubut province has signed different local legislations to help protect the whale.
We think you might also be interested in: