March 2012. After visiting three different lagoons in the Pacific Ocean side of Baja Mexico, a rare western Gray whale named "Varvara" is migrating up the West Coast of USA - presumably en route to her home range near Russia's Sakhalin Island.
The Mexican lagoons are known calving and breeding grounds for eastern Gray whales and Varvara may have gone there in search of a partner, scientists say.
No calf this year
"She did not calve for sure, or she would have stayed in one place for four to eight weeks because the calves need to gain strength, coordination and blubber - for fuel and insulation," said Bruce Mate, director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. "More likely, she would have been breeding this year and spent time around three areas where that activity is commonly seen."
"She did not calve for sure, or she would have stayed in one place for four to eight weeks because the calves need to gain strength, coordination and blubber - for fuel and insulation," said Bruce Mate, director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. "More likely, she would have been breeding this year and spent time around three areas where that activity is commonly seen."
The 9-year-old female was near the Washington/Canadian border, traveling northward at a rate of up to 100 miles a day. There is "great interest" in Varvara's journey in Tofino, the whale watching hub on the west coast of Vancouver Island, according to Jim Darling of the Pacific Wildlife Foundation, who has studied whale populations for years.
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