All whales especially the Baleen migrates ever year and this is done as a group. These creatures head off from their cold feeding grounds to warmer breeding grounds. When these mammals migrate in groups the group is known as a pod.

These mammals have very strong social bonds especially between a mother and her calf. The Baleen whale will at times travel alone or within a small pod where as the toothed whale will travel in large pods this is because the toothed mammals hunt as a group and migrate as a group. The young calves are taken care of by the group as well.

The female has a gestation period of 9 months and depending on what species it is some take as long as' months and they only give live birth to one calf. Although they migrate seasonally the cow does now give birth every year. This gigantic sea mammal produce milk for their calves to suckle and they will only breed in warm waters.

The minute a calf is born it is able to swim and the mother takes care of the calf for around a year continuously feeding them with milk and the mother is also very protective over her calf. These mammals have a very unique communication system which is called whale song and can be heard for kilometres under the water.

The sounds these mammals make such as clicking and whistling which is common among the toothed species are used as a means of echolocation and at the same time they mark their territory when it mating season and this whale song can last for quite a while whereas the Baleens whale song has a low frequency as opposed to the other species.

Whales have defence mechanisms whereby the toothed species use their teeth to kill their prey as well as protect themselves. Most of the toothed species hunt cooperatively by catching and killing large prey such as the orcas are capable of killing a young blue whale and humpbacks use a method known as bubble net feeding which allows them to catch large amounts of small fish during a feeding.

All whales especially the Baleen migrates ever year and this is done as a group. These creatures head off from their cold feeding grounds to warmer breeding grounds. When these mammals migrate in groups the group is known as a pod.

About the Author
Studying whales has always Peter van Diem passion for as long as he can remember and has always pondered about the whales mating rituals.