Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammal
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Eschrichtiidae
- Genus
- Eschrichtius
Habitat
Gray whales inhabit the North Pacific Ocean, migrating between summer feeding grounds in the Arctic and sub-Arctic shallows and winter breeding lagoons in Baja California and Korea. They prefer coastal waters less than 200 meters deep, often feeding in muddy seafloors.
Diet
Gray whales primarily eat benthic amphipods, small crustaceans, and tube worms, which they suck up from the ocean floor. They use their baleen plates to filter food from sediment, feeding mainly during the summer in polar regions. Feeding occurs by rolling on their sides and disturbing the bottom mud.
Behavior
Gray whales are highly migratory, undertaking annual journeys of up to 20,000 km from Alaska to Mexico and back. They are generally solitary or travel in small pods, but mothers with calves form close bonds. They exhibit curious behavior towards boats, sometimes approaching for interaction, and are active year-round with peaks in migration seasons.
Conservation Status
The IUCN lists the gray whale as Least Concern globally, but the western population is Endangered; major threats include ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and climate change impacts on their Arctic habitat. Population trends show recovery in the eastern North Pacific but decline in the western.