Do whales migrate?

Most whales migrate to eat and breed. For example, baleen whales feed mostly on krill, which is abundant in very cold waters. However, these cold waters are not a suitable environment in which to give birth – newborn calves are born without a protective blubber layer under their skin and would quickly freeze to death. read more

North Atlantic right whales, which appear to move between cold waters off the Northeastern US and Canada to waters off South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Humpback whales, which move between northern feeding grounds and southern breeding grounds. Blue whales. In the Pacific, blue whales migrate from California to Mexico and Costa Rica. read more

They then migrate back to the tropics segregated by sex and age, the older and pregnant whales migrating first, with the sexually immature whales bringing up the rear. Generally, the larger, older whales migrate the furthest north. read more