Each year tourists from around the world visit the Rainbow Coast to catch a glimpse of the whales. The Great Southern Ocean is home to a huge whale population who breed and feed in the bays.

These beautiful creatures pass us during their migration as they travel between the warmer northern waters and the cooler seas surrounding Antarctica. The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, adopted by the International Whaling Commission in 1994, provides long-term protection to the feeding grounds of almost three quarters of the world's remaining whales. Many whale species can be found off of the Rainbow Coast. Information on these gigantic creatures can be found below.

Our first whale sighting.
June 18th, 2008 The Blowholes, Albany >>

Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
Length: 14 -19 metres long with calves approximately 5 metres.
Weight: 25 - 40 tonnes (40,000 kilograms)
Speed: 8 kmph (4 knots)

The Humpback whale is a beleen whale, which means it has baleen plates for filtering food from water, rather than having teeth. These great whales typically migrate up to 25,000 kilometres each year as they migrate between Antarctica and Australia.

They are a common sound in 'whale song' tapes and CDs. More information on Humpback Whales can be found at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. They were once hunted to the brink of extinction.

Southern Right Whale
(Eubalaena australis)

Right Whale
Length: Adult 15 – 18m Calf 5.5m
Weight: Adult 54 - 96 tonnes
Speed: 4 kmph (2 knots) – 10kmph (5 knots)

Southern Right Whales head for the bays during early winter and spring when they arrive to give birth before returning to the Antarctic waters to feed for the summer months.

These whales are called 'right' whales because they were the 'right' whale for whalers to hunt. They were slow, and thus hunted easily. There are now only 7,500 Southern Right Whales spread throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Since hunting of the Southern Right Whale ceased, their numbers are estimated to have grown by 7% a year.

The Southern Right whale uses the sheltered beaches along the Rainbow Coast to birth their young - usually from July to October.

More information on Southern Right Whales can be found at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sperm Whales ~ (Physeter macrocephalus)

Sperm Whale
Length: Male 15 – 20m Female 14m
Weight: Male 35 tonnes Female 19 tonnes

The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of all toothed whales, making them the Earth's largest living carnivore and largest living toothed animal. They feed on squid and fish, diving as deep as 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) in order to obtain it, making it the deepest diving mammal in the world.

Sperm whales are easily recoginised by the rectangular head shown in drawings of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick."

More information on Sperm Whales can be found at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Southern Minke Whale

Minke Whale
Length: Adult 8 – 10m Calf 3m
Weight: Adult 8 tonnes Calf .45 tonnes
Speed: 25 kmph (13 knots)

Minke whales arch their backs while diving but do not raise their tail flukes. They can live up to 60 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Minke_Whale

Fin Whale

Fin Whale - The second largest whale.

Like all other large whales, the Fin Whale was heavily hunted during the twentieth century and is an endangered species.

The Orca (Killer Whale)

The Orca whale belongs to the oceanic dolphin family and is found all around the world. They are seasonal visitors to the Rainbow Coast. Orcas live in pods (groups) of between 2 and 40. Each group includes at least one large male. Their social behaviour is worth noting, as it points us to another intelligence evolving in the largest of the dolphin family.

"The paper "Culture in Whales and Dolphins", goes as far as to say, "The complex and stable vocal and behavioral cultures of groups of killer whales (Orcinus orca) appear to have no parallel outside humans and represent an independent evolution of cultural faculties."
~ Wikipedia

Orca

Helping a stranded whale:
Whales and dolphins can become stranded on the beach. If you find a stranded whale or dolphin, please contact the the The Department of Fisheries at: ALBANY REGIONAL OFFICE on 08 9841 7766
Suite 7, Frederick House, 70-74 Frederick St, Albany, WA, 6330

What can I do?

• Look for signs of movement.
• Be gentle.
• Protect the whale from the sun if possible.
• Pour cold water on the skin, especially the flippers and fluke.
• It may be possible to return a small whale to the ocean using a sling of canvas or towe1s. Carry it into the water and keep its blowhole above the surface until it can swim.