by Ranger Jim Serpa

"Look alive mates, that be no normal beast, it's the Devilfish we're after!" Had you been a whaler in the mid-1800's that cry might have made your blood run cold. Today we find it hard to believe that the whale that Californians have come to cherish was so feared that only the bravest would try and harpoon them. The cycle has turned so dramatically that the public is now spending large amounts of money to get a good view of them. In fact, there are several companies that will actually take you to the breeding grounds in the shallow coastal lagoons of central and southern Baja California where you have a chance to pet these mammoth creatures.

The Gray Whale is not really a big whale, as whales go, reaching a length of about 40 to 50 feet. As in all baleen whale the females are larger than the males. Baleen is the material that hangs down from the roof of the mouth in non-toothed whales (Mysticetes) and basically is used to filter out the small crustaceans that many large whales feed on. The baleen is made of material similar to our fingernails and is cream colored in Gray Whales.

The Grays are considered by scientists to be the most primitive of all the baleen whales. Lacking a dorsal fin, the Gray Whale is not really gray at all, but almost black. Us Southern Californians might call it "charcoal". The gray color comes from the fact that most older Grays are covered with a large number of light colored parasites, most notably barnacles and whale lice. As gross as this may sound these lice actually help the whale out by dining on dead flesh which, left alone, might cause infection.

You can actually tell if the Gray Whale you are lucky enough to spot is right handed or left handed (or flippered if you prefer) by noticing which side of the whale is the most barnacle and lice-free. This whale likes to feed in the shallow waters of the Bering and Chukchi Seas, diving down and taking a large bite out of the soft mud, then using its enormous tongue to force the silt out through the baleen leaving the delectable crustaceans to be swallowed. If the whale has a right side that is fairly clean of parasites then you can assume that the animal is right handed, and vice versa. It's interesting to note that the Gray Whale has about the same percentages of right and left handed individuals as do humans.

Until recently it was thought that these whales fasted the entire length of their 12,000 mile migration, but we now know that the Gray will feed if it gets a chance. Unfortunately for the hungry whale, good food is hard to find down here.

At Doheny we can spot Gray Whales as early as late December with the bulk of the population heading south past us by the end of January. In February and March you can even get a better view as the whales make their northward migration back to the abundant feeding grounds of the Chukchi and Bering Seas.

These whales reach sexual maturity at 5 to 11 years of age. Gestation normally takes 13 months with the beautiful bouncing baby tipping the scale at a mere 1200 to 1500 pounds! Under ideal conditions these whales give birth only once every two years. The whale calf can grow an amazing 50 pounds a day or more. The rapid weight gain is important if the calf is going to be strong enough to make the 6,000 mile one way trip back up north to the whales' summer feeding grounds. This is accomplished by consuming vast amounts of highly fat laden mother's milk. The Gray Whales' milk is up to 40% milk fat. By comparison, cows milk is approximately 4% fat.

The history of the species is tragic to say the least. At one time there were two different populations of Gray Whales, one in the Pacific and a separate population in the North Atlantic. The Atlantic population was hunted to extinction by the end of the 1700's. The population in the Pacific was actually hunted to the brink of extinction twice, once in the 1800's and again in the 1900's. It wasn't until 1938 that it was decided by international treaty to stop all commercial Gray Whale hunting. Since that time this remarkable creature has made a miraculous comeback, with some experts estimating their populations at 21,000. And in January of 1993 the whale was taken off the endangered species list. The whale is still protected by treaty from commercial harvesting. The latest threats to the Gray Whales existence is the possibility of a huge salt producing plant being built on one of the birthing lagoons in Baja and the fact that several countries want to start hunting them again. So far, neither has come to fruition and, hopefully, we have learned from our mistakes and won't put this animal at risk again.