Whale watching in Natures Valley
Whale watching is another Natures Valley experience
The Southern right whale.
From June to December whales can be seen at the shores of Nature's Valley.Most common in South African waters are the Southern Right Whales, which are found all along South Africa's coastline.
They come and have their babies in South African coastal waters in spring and in 3 months they go back to Antarctica.
The length of pregnancy is 6 months to a year. The calf suckles from a pair of teats.
Approximately 4500 Southern Right whales live in the southern hemisphere, 270 of these have been found between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
1500 of these whales come to our coastline. There used to be 10 times more! But they have been killed.
The Southern Right is 11 - 18 metres long and its colour is grey.
Adults can weigh between 25 and 66 tons. It has a big body and a large head and adult whales can weigh between 25 and 66 tons and can swim about 5km per hour.
Whales are mammals because they are warm-blooded and have backbones. They give birth to live young and feed their babies with milk. The lifespan of the Southern Right is estimated at about 50 years, although some individuals can live much longer than 50 years.
The Right whales eat krill and plankton and consume about 400 kg a day.
Instead of teeth they have baleen plates which hang like vertical Venetian blinds from the upper jaw. There are 160 to 360 on each side. The finger nail like baleen plates prevent them from eating large food and their throats are rather small, an orange is to large to pass through their throat.
You can find out more whale watching here.
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Whale watching in New zealand