What kinds of whales can be found off the coasts of Florida?
Do you have any experiments to demonstrate how a whale can be so nimble in
the water. I would like to better explain this to my group of 7 and 8 year
old students.
I would also like to educate them about whales found near our coast. We
are
in Ft. Pierce Fl.
Thank you so much for your time and efforts.
Molly Peters
St. Lucie Elementary
Ft. Pierce Fl.
Dear Ms. Peters,
There are several different kinds of whales that might be observed off of
Florida. On the Atlantic side there might be an occasional humpback whale -
they migrate south during the winter to areas off the Dominican Republic,
Puerto Rico and some as far as Venezuela. In the summer the population can
be found off New England and north up to Iceland and Norway. As they
migrate back and forth, there are some limited sightings of humpbacks close
to Florida - I have a photo of a humpback off the coast of West Palm Beach!
Also, at this time of year, a portion of the Northern Right Whale
population overwinters off the Northern Florida and Georgia coast. In the
summer these highly endangered whales head north to their final
destinations off of Canada - the Bay of Fundy, to name one.
In the Gulf Coast of Florida there are limited sightings of sperm whales
and beaked whales.
To learn more about each of the species, I suggest using the WhaleNet
search engine - type in the name of the whale species, and you will find a
plethora of information!
As far as the shape of the whales and experiments, I suggest the WhaleNet
search engine again. I don't readily know of any experiments, but maybe
there are postings from other teachers that might offer some ideas. I'd
search under "streamlined shape" or "fusiform body" or even "hydrodynamic."
Good luck to you!
Sincerely,
Lisa Foerster
Director
Center for Oceanic Research and Education
www.coreresearch.org
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