Question:
How do whales know where to migrate?
Reply:
Dear LaCovya Wilson,
Whales migrate primarily to find food. The larger, baleen whales like the
gray whale, migrate great distances, from warmer waters to cooler, polar
waters where fish and plankton are most abundant. There is not a lot of
information on how they know where to migrate to, but it is believed that
environmental factors like the sun's orientation, topography of the ocean
floor, water temperature, chemical changes in the water, and magnetic
sensing, all play a part in how whales navigate.
Thank you,
Kim
Kim Marshall
Executive Director
Ocean Alliance (Whale Conservation Inst. & the Voyage of the Odyssey)
191 Weston Road, Lincoln, MA 01773
781.259.0423 ext. 14 fax 259.0288
www.oceanalliance.org www.pbs.org/odyssey
Please support our efforts to conserve whales and their ocean environment
through research and education :)
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