The animals do not smoke, do not use cosmetics, do not drive, do not drink alcohol, do not drop bombs, do not consume drugs, do not make polluting agents...

~Whales in the Future~

The whales are mammals pertaining to the order of the cetacea

The first fossil rests of whale, dates from 52 million years

Between the species that are known they emphasize:

The teethed ones (odoncetos: Well-known like sperm whale. The males reachs

18.3 meters length and bitches 12.2 mts.

The bearded ones : This group its formed by ten species. In the upper jaw,

hangs a series of plaques called beards. They are used as a

filter to capture the food (krill or plancton). In order to feed itself they open

their mouth so that it penetrates the greater amount of possible water, when closing it

they press with its tongue upwards against the strip of the beards and expel

the water being the food catched in its mouth

Some whales can ingest more than one ton of food

Underneath the skin, they have a heavy fat layer that aid to maintain the heat

and to store energy since they remain several months in the zone of

breeding without feeding itself

The whales have lungs and breathe across orifices

located upon the head)

In order to breathe they leave to the surface and when , the air leaves with great force and the air

that it surrounds to the orifices, raises as if outside a font in the air, this is known

like " blow "

The bearded ones have two orifices and the dentated just one

They submerge to great depths, some times up to 900 meters

The bearded ones hold up to 50 minutes the breathing and the teethed ones up to 75

minutes

At the present time exists 40 species, the majority threatened by the excessive hunting

The Number of hunted whales, is greater than the one of the born whales. In

some populations they are already so reduced, that maybe never they will recover

~Blue Frank Whale~

(Eubalaena Australis)

It is a bearded whale. It presents callosities in the superior part and flanks of

the head

The callosities are of cornea consistency and gray color, but they seem white

when being covers by crustaceos (ciamidos), known like lice

whales.

These callosities allow to individualize them and to identify them, since each

whale has his patron of callosities which, non vary with the course of

years

The Frank whale, is of dark or black gray color with irregular spots

white in the central part. measures approximately 15 mts. and it weighs between 40 and 60

tons, being bigger the females than the males. Baby whales when being born

they measure 5 mts.

The whales live approximately 50 years

The females breeds every three years and its first breeding is between the 7 and 9 years.

The gestation is of 12 months approximately

it considers that are 7,000 frank whales anywhere in the world of which, 2.600

are in the Peninsula of Valdes

The Peninsula is of warm waters so its ideal for the maternity, So the

whales arrive in April with that purpose and they remain until December

First babies are born in June until October and there passes his

first three months of life playing and swimming around its mothers,

while these rest

They play with his tails doing " tailing " (elevate his tails perpendicularly

outside the water, in the wind direction, soon they swim against the same one and

they begin again)

If one caresses them they close his eyes in signal of pleasing and open his mouth so that

they receive caresses in the place that they like most, its tongue

baby whales remains next to their mothers until the year. Soon they bring them

again to the Peninsula to leave protected them by another group of mothers and

babies, so that they become independent and they do not be alone

Of this form they learn next to its pairs, soon to migrate to the area of

feeding at the end of the season

Apparently they migrate to surrounding areas to the Georgias islands of the South

The whales produce sounds as if they sang. The songs last 30

minutes and vary every year, which demonstrates that they learn different

songs

They continue hunting them...

Only they are left a 10% of the Austral Frank whale

In 1986 it established an international moratorium on his hunting, with which

prohibited the commercial hunting of all the whales. Nevertheless some countries

mainly Japon and Norway, continue hunting whales for commercial purposes

They have killed more than 21,760 whales since its prohibition. In order to assure his

survival Sanctuaries " were created ", refuge places that protect the

whales from the hunting.

In 1994 it has been created the Austral Whaling Sanctuary, zone of 50 million of

square kms around the Antartida, in which the Japanese fleet,

it attacks now against the Minke whale

The Japanese fleet takes ahead what calls " cientific hunting ", within

the Antartic Whaling Sanctuary . Very on the contrary the meat of these whales is

sold, directly in the japanese market

From year 1997 they capture by season more than 500 whales

... how they hunt them

They shoot a harpoon with a grenade that explodes in its entrails

Its body is dragged near the boat harpooner and receives an electric shock that

it concludes with his death

Whaling killing a Minke whale that looked around, to one of the five boats that circulated around the Sanctuary. But late she was captured on board of " the Nisshin Maru " of japanese origin , in the Austral Whaling Sanctuary, Antarticas waters although...

" All the Antartic Ocean that surrounds the Antartida, has been declared Whaling Sanctuary "