A Whale of a Time

     For my field lab for marine biology, we traveled to Hermanus, which is one of the best whale watching places on Earth. When we arrived to Hermanus, we walked to False Bay, which is where the Southern Right Whale gives birth between July and November every year. They travel all the way from Antarctica to do this. Once we got there, we easily saw a mother and a pup. After the first sighting, we saw at least three other pairs of mother and child. Many of them were resting, and a couple fluked, which is when the whale will turn or roll over and stick  one or both of their fins out.

     Just as we were about to leave, a whale breached the water, which is when the whale jumps out and flips over. Once this happened, the other whales came to the area, as well as seagulls. The whale breached again several times, followed by a baby whale breaching.  All of these events told us that this
whale was just born. Sea gulls surround the area to feast on the afterbirth mess that the whales leave behind. It was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen.
    
    After this, we ate lunch, and then headed to the South African Shark Conservatory. This is a NGO, which raised awareness and conducts research on sharks in the area, including the Great White Shark. We talked about the positive aspects of shark cage diving, as well as the issues concerning sharks in the area. After this, we dissected a local shark.

    Once we left the shark conservatory, we traveled to one of the penguin colonies. There are several penguin colonies in South Africa, all of which are in the Cape Town area. There are two that are on the mainland, and the rest are located on islands around Cape Town, including Robben Island. Penguins can only be found in the Southern Hemisphere, and go as far north as around the equator in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Chile. The penguins at the colony eat fish from around eight in the morning until around four in the evening. Their only threat is being eaten by sharks and sea lions. They are not harmed by humans. We saw them during molting season, so it was interesting to see which of the penguins were newborns.