The Cape in South Africa is home to the most well-known Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena Australis). In order to reproduce in the serene inshore waters, a sizable population travels there from their sub-Antarctic feeding sites during the southern winter.

Five Interesting Facts

They stay until November, at which point they and their calves migrate south. The whales frequently cavort close inshore in protected harbors. On occasion, they break free of the water or use their tails to pound the surface. Bulls can reach a maximum length of 17 meters and a maximum weight of around 50 tons.

Like the blue whale, humpback whale, and other filter-feeding giants, this gentle giant is a member of the baleen whale (Mysticeti) group. Despite without teeth, these whales consume plankton. Through fronds of “baleen” tissue that hang from the upper mouth, they filter it out of surface waters.

Because they believed that this slow, amiable species was the “right” one to hunt, whalers came up with the phrase “right whale.” Throughout the 19th century, many were killed, and hunting persisted until 1935, when protection was agreed upon.

Since then, numbers have improved significantly.
Two important identifying characteristics for this species are the absence of a dorsal fin and a V-shaped spout. They quickly differentiate it from the other giant whale that is most frequently sighted off the coast of southern Africa, the humpback whale.

The distinctive white spots on a southern right whale’s head, known as callosities, are areas of rough, calcified skin. Thus, their name. Large colonies of barnacles and whale lice live on them, which is why they are white.
With testicles that weigh almost 500 kg each, southern right whales have the largest testicles of any animal.