Southern Right Whale Annual Migration

The Great Australian Bite. This unforgiving piece of coastline spans two of Australia's southern states. A total of 1160 kilometers with sheer drop-offs of up to 60 meters. This incredible edge-of-earth beauty is a sanctuary for hundreds of southern right whales and their calves each year as they leave their summer feeding ground in Antarctica to rear their young in the calmer South Australian waters. They make this several thousand kilometer round trip between the months of May and November. They will not eat for the entirety of their stay here, only being able to feed again once they return to Antarctica. Southern right whales have a gestation period of up to 12 months with the average calf weighing one to one and a half tons at approximately five to six meters in length. They can grow to a massive 18 meters and weigh up to 80 tons, the equivalent of 26 Toyota Land Cruisers. Southern right whales are easily identified by their large calocities. These calcified gross appear on their skin as sea lice, barnacles and parasitic worms live on the roughened areas of the whale's skin. The southern right whale gained its name during the years of commercial whaling which saw a 75% decline in population numbers. The word right was used to describe the whale as it was easily hunted due to its slow pace, it floated when it was dead and served a large number of industries with oil, illumination and lubrication. Thankfully on April 4th 1979 the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser passed a law protecting all whale species in Australian waters.