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The Samaná Humpback whales

A long travel as far as Samaná

From the far north to the Cariibbean

Our friends, the humpback whales, are about to leave the north cold waters, and thus to accomplish a great travel. Some of them are actually already « on the road ».

Every year, they come by thousands and thousands in the warm and calm waters of the Caribbean, to mate or to give birth. Thereby, they come here, in the Samaná bay, considered as one of the best sites in the world to observe them, between mid-January and end of March.

The humpback whales are part of the big whale family. They have an average of fifteen meters length and weight, on average, 40 tones.

Marine mammals, they breathe air, and for that purpose, they regularly come up on the surface. They stay without breathing around 20 minutes (it’s an average), but they can stay under water up to 40 minutes.

After the long journey they realize and during which they did not feed at all, they spend a part of the winter in our region, still without feeding themselves. They will, thereby, loose a fifth of their weight.

Why do they come to give birth in the area ?

Simply because the calf, at its birth, has a too thin « fat layer » to take cold waters. When it comes to world, it measures between 3, 50 and 5 meters, and weights one tone. To constitute then a defender greasy layer and to acquire enough forces to follow its mother during the return trip, it will consume daily approximately 200 liters of maternal milk… As this milk is very rich and nourishing, the « baby » will take 45 kilos per day !

It’s a real pleasure and a great emotion to see the mother playing with her progeny.

By the way, the whale only has a single baby every two years. The gestation period is of 11 to 12 months. It thus comes to give birth to the baby where it conceived it ! Even if it’s uncommon, it happens that some of them mate the same season as they drop.

The Humpback whales, songs and rivalry

As for males… In order to seduce females, they sing and jump out of the water. The whales having a very keen hearing (its main sense); they can hear song up to 35 kms !

The rivalry between these « sirs » is important, and they don’t dither to fight for a pretty female. The maximal number of « gentlemen » observed after a fertile female is of 25 ! ! ! (wwooahh !..)

At the end of their stay in the region, they go back towards the great north where they’ll feed themselves. This is what we call it the feeding season. Every day, they regale themselves with a tone of « krill », a kind of small shrimps, and with small fishes. They don’t have teeth but they possess kind of big blades which were formerly used before invention of plastic (thanks !), in the manufacturing of umbrellas and corsets.

Fortunately, the whale watching is regulated. So, to comply with these rules aiming to the respect of these wonderful animals, and for your own safety, it is strongly recommended to go only with recognized organizations having the necessary authorizations.

We wish them an excellent journey and look forward to see them !

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