Sea Island Life Magazine Fall/Winter 2014 | Page 38

Thanks to conservation efforts, North Atlantic right whales
have made an impressive comeback over the past 70 years,
more than quadrupling in population size.

CANADA

FEEDING
GROUNDS

UNITED
STATES

CALVING GROUNDS

“There’s a fair amount of speculation
involved,” George acknowledges. He explains
that the southeast Atlantic waters are shallow
and protected, and not as rough as the waters
around Cape Hatteras or Cape Canaveral. In
addition, the cool water that pools out of the
coastal rivers ensures that the ocean remains
an ideal temperature for the whales during the
wintertime, and the surrounding environment
lacks the predatory species that would pose a
threat. “All of those things come together to
make Georgia a good nursery ground.”

The “Right” Whale
Averaging between 43 and 52 feet in length
and weighing 44 to 77 tons, the large mammals
are easily recognizable. Their heads are often
dotted with callosities, white with cyamides, or
small crustaceans often called whale lice. The
corners of their mouths arch above their eyes
As part of the baleen whale group, the North
American right whale lacks teeth—instead

Right whales typically feed in the Gulf of Maine and migrate
south to birth their calves.

invertebrates, such as krill, by slowly skimming water near the surface of the ocean.
The calves that are born off of the Georgia
coast typically measure in at 3,000 pounds
and about 14 feet long. Most females mature
around 9 or 10 years of age, after which they
period. They continue to breed every three to
six years subsequently. There’s no hard data on
their life span, but it’s believed that the whales
typically live to be at least 50 years old, and
scientists have suggested that some may live
to be 100.
The right whale received its name from
whalers who considered them the “right”
whale to hunt because of their slow swimming
speed, surface-skimming feeding methods,
docile nature, preference for living close to the
coast and high blubber content, which means
Whale hunters sought them commercially
for their meat and whale oil as early as the
11th centu