Southern Right Whales in False Bay

False Bay has been busy with tourists and ardent photographers here to see the Southern Right whales. There has been a large increase in the number of whales in the bay year to year and ten years ago before I left South Africa it was fairly exceptional to see so many of them so often.

The term "right" whale refers to the fact that in the nineteenth century these whales were regarded as the "right" whales to harvest, because they were particularly rich in oil, and being slow swimmers they were easy to catch.
The most striking feature of the Southern Right whales are the 'callosities' behind the blowholes, and on the face. These provide homes for several other creatures, including the 'whale lice' which live on the callosities and operate in a symbiotic relationship with the whales, feeding off the dead skin.

The Southern Right lives between latitudes 20° to 55°, occasionally venturing down as far as 63° South. Although it is found throughout the southern oceans, in our part of the world it returns annually to the sheltered bays of the Southern African coast in order to breed and give birth. In False Bay the whales can be seen between June and November and are most prolific close to the shore from about September.

During the summer months the whales move south to the colder waters of the Antarctic where they feed. As baleen whales, right whales swim with their mouths open so that the baleen plates can filter out the water and retain the krill that forms a large part of their diet; they eat up to 1½ tons of these tiny prawn-like creatures every day. The whales are seasonal feeders, eating in winter and living off their blubber in the breeding months in the north.

Southern right whales are regarded as an endangered species as their numbers have been considerably reduced in the last 200 years. There are now about 4500 southern right whales, with about 1500 coming to southern Africa.

Legislation was introduced in South Africa in 1980 and '84 to protect whales. It is now illegal to shoot at whales, or harass them by coming closer than 300 metres in any craft.

Hopefully will be able to get some better pics to post here whilst I am still in the Cape!