Gray whales have been hunted to extermination in the Atlantic Ocean. But you can still find some in the Pacific Ocean (and the Behring Straits). These very quiet monsters may even jump out of the water (Is it a game? Is it communication? Nobody really knows). Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), Baleine grise.Wrangel Island, Russia.August 2018.
Tag: Whale
Belugas are not too difficult to find (much less than the elusive narwhal). But, like all whales, they are often hard to catch in action. Here, a group of the white whales was hunting slamon. The grey one is just a young which did not yet grow its porcelain-colored skin. Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), Béluga, ou… Read More
Let’s admit that it won’t be easy to see such a whale shark baby playing (or discovering how to play) with the bubbles produced by scuba divers. So cute a baby! Source: Requin-Blanc.
Finally, a nice picture of Mom and her little one, cruising together in calm waters: Short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus, Baleine pilote, Globicéphale). Davis Strait, Nunavut, Canada August 2016.
Sunset encounters: Beaked whales according to the specialists, pilot whales do not really fear even large ships. They travel in small groups which offer nice photo opportunities. Short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus, Baleine pilote, Globicéphale). Davis Strait, Nunavut, Canada August 2016.
The Narwhal is a (small) toothed whale rather extraordinary because it holds a kind of long protruding spiral tusk (actually an overdevelopped toothwhich can reach up to 4 meters in adult males). Rather discreet (small blow, defintely timid), the narwhal is not easy to observe. But during our crossing of the Bellot Strait, we were… Read More
Southern Right Whales
As seen from the cliffs in Hermanus, South Africa. August 2015.
Hermanus, in South Africa, considers itself as the world capital of “whale watching from the coast”. Reading this on the Internet reeks of overblown marketing. You can easily imagine this applied to the back of a whale far on the horizon calling for the use of the biggest binoculars. Nothing would be more wrong! You… Read More
While you may be lucky enough to see whales from the sky like we did in August 2015, thanks to African Wings in Hermanus, the most common way to approach these huge mammals is taking a boat tour in a location where they are seen quite usually. Since whales are relatively common during Summer near… Read More
To start the publication of a series of photos shot in South Africa, here is gallery of some quite unusual pictures: Whales shot from a small plane (African Wings) in Hermanus, about one hour driving out of Cape Town. We could see quite clearly a large number of whales like this Southern Right Whale paddling… Read More
Sudden drop of minke whale populations
A scientific study coming from Iceland suggest that in the recent years the minke whale population suddenly dropped from 45000 in 2001 to less than 15000 last year. This is a enormous change that is not yet explained for a small whale that was more or less protected by its smaller size (big whales bring… Read More
Near the end of whaling?
This is the question or the hope that we can have after the opening of a legal investigation in Japan. A public prosecutor announced on last 19th of May that he decided to explore the observed operations of sale of whale meat to restaurants. Greenpeace actively participates and there are many people hoping this to… Read More
See them all at http://www.naturesbestphotography.com/ Jürgen FreundOCEANSDwarf Minke WhaleRibbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Australia