A record number of gray whales have been seen off the coast of California this past year. The Pacific gray whale breeds/winters over in the lagoons east of Baja California, Mexico, south of San Diego/Tijuana. The gray whales return to the Arctic in February, March, April.
The largest number of southbound migrating gray whales in 31 years was recorded this past December. I happened to post a photo of that information the other day, mostly to brighten the blog.
Now, today, I am sent this link: researchers are puzzled by the high death rate of killer whales off British Columbia, which was posted October 24, 2013.
There is only natural predator of the gray whale: the killer whale (orca). Okay, and humans.
What bothers me most is the cetaceous researchers in British Columbia apparently are not talking with their counterparts in southern California. If the British Columbia researchers think the orcas are decreasing in number, the first thing they should do is check on the gray whale population. Maybe they have, but the linked article did not say.
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