WHALE WATCHING IN HERVEY BAY,
MORETON BAY AND QUEENSLAND
Whale watching is conducted in a
number of locations on the Eastern
Coast of Australia.
Just three and a half hours
driving from Brisbane is the city
of Hervey Bay, gateway to Fraser
Island and now famous as the Whale
Watch Capital of the Australia.
Other locations include the
Whitsundays and Moreton Bay near
Brisbane. A trip amongst the
Humpback whales (Megaptera
Novaeangliae) is indeed an
experience of a lifetime. Imagine
the fifth largest of the families
of whales on this planet , 15
metres long , 45 tonnes in weight
(an equivalent of 11 elephants or
600 persons) with pectoral fins of
10 metres, leaping almost clear of
the water in an awesome display of
power.
Or they may approach a vessel with
incredible gentleness, just to
check us humans out, sometimes
staying up to an hour. Humpback
whales migrate between their
feeding grounds of Antarctica and
the Great Barrier Reef, where they
mate and breed.
The reason for this migration is
simple: while their food supply
(krill) is in Antarctica, Humpback
whales must give birth in warm
waters, as the calves are born
without blubber, the layer of fat
that protects them from the icy
waters. When feeding, a female
whale can produce up to 600 litres
of milk a day and the calf gains
weight at a rate of 45 to 60 kg
per
day.
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