Southern Right Whale

There are over eighty known species of whales, dolphins and porpoises that fall into two major groups, the Mysticetes and the Odontocetes. The Mysticetes or Baleen whales comprise twelve of the eighty and are so called because they are toothless. This group contains all the large whales, with the exception of the sperm whale (think ‘Moby Dick’!) which has teeth.

The Southern Right Whale is a Baleen. They live only in the Southern Hemisphere (circumpolar between 20 and 55 degrees south) and never mix with the Northern Right Whale. They mate and calve during the winter months in the inshore waters of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Australia and South Africa and then migrate to waters nearer to Antarctica to feed during the summer months when supplies of krill are more prolific.

The southern coast of South Africa enjoys the greatest number of visiting Southern Rights on their annual pilgrimage to drop their calves. The pods can be seen easily from the shores of Hermanus on the Western Cape during the season of August through to November each year. Click here for details of Hermanus Coastal Whale Watch tour.

• Length Up to 18 metres when fully grown
• Mass Average adult is around 55 tons, though many reach 80 tons
• Colour Black
• Gestation 12 months
• Calves 5 metres at birth, growing at 2.5 cm per day until mature
• Longevity Anything up to 100 years

Southern Rights can be distinguished by the growth of callosities around their heads. These are growths of tough skin, generally white in colour, and the patterns these create are individual to each whale – rather like a human finger print or a zebra’s coat. The males also have another interesting feature – their testes are the largest in the animal kingdom – up to 1 ton in weight which equates to a Southern Right’s weight at birth!!!

The Latin name for the Southern Right is Eubalaena Australis (those Aussies get in everywhere!) They were named Southern Right as they were considered the ‘right’ whales to hunt, as they are a soft target - very slow, live close to shore and float when killed. Their size makes for a productive catch, providing large quantities of oil, meat and whale bone. Large scale whaling reduced the Southern Right to the point of extinction but intervention by the anti whaling lobby has seem them become a protected species and their number are currently on the rise. However, they remain vulnerable due to habitat loss and human disturbance and accidental entrapment.