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Baby Whale, Baby Seal Wind Up on North Oregon Coast Beach |
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Covering 180 miles of Oregon coast travel: Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler, Rockaway, Garibaldi, Tillamook, Oceanside, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Waldport, Yachats & Florence.
01/22/08
Secrets of the Season |
Baby Whale, Baby Seal Wind Up on North Oregon Coast Beach
Photos by Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium
(Seaside,
Oregon) – It was a case of the crusty and the cute on the north
Oregon coast.
Two babies of two different species wound up on the beaches of Seaside in recent days. A deceased infant whale landed in the southern end of Seaside on Tuesday, while a furry, adorable baby seal rested on the beach for part of a day this week.
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The baby whale washed ashore around 5 p.m. Tuesday - the first gray whale to wash up on Seaside’s beaches in five years. It was approximately 15 feet, and staff at the Seaside Aquarium say it was a newborn.
"That's what makes it unique," said Tiffany Boothe, with the aquarium. "It still has its whiskers."
Morris
Grover, spokesman for the Depoe Bay-based Whale Watch Spoken Here program,
said that is definitely a sign of being a newborn. He hadn't seen the
whale personally, but said the whiskers eventually rub off during nursing
from their mother. That process takes a month to three months.
"It probably had just been born," Grover said. "This should’ve taken place in warmer waters. They're born without any body fat, so they head down south to give birth down there. 15 feet is the size of a newborn."
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Boothe and Morris said without body fat, it couldn't survive the cold winter waters of the Oregon coast.
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| Whale getting moved by a backhoe |
Exactly what purpose those whiskers serve is still up in the air, but there is a theory. "We think it’s possible they give the baby an idea of proximity to its mother," Grover said. "But we’re just guessing."
Boothe said a marine biologist from Portland State University’s Marine Mammal Stranding Network will be coming down on Friday to perform a necropsy on the animal, which is still on the beach, but cordoned off.
“Notice in the photographs the dimples on the whale’s head,” Boothe said. “Whale watchers will often refer to newborns as ‘pickleheads’ because the dimples resemble the dimples on pickles.”
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| Whiskers on the gray whale |
Boothe said gray whales are currently migrating down to their winter calving grounds in Baja, California. There, baby grays are born in the warm lagoons, where they spend the first few months of their lives. During that time, they will grow to about 18 to 19 feet and put on approximately 60 pounds per day feeding solely on their mother’s milk.
“When first born, the babies are about 15 feet in length and weigh 1,500 pounds,” she said. “Adult gray whales can reach 50 feet and weigh 30 to 40 tons.”
The whale originally landed just south of downtown, near the Lewis & Clark saltworks memorial. The whale was moved early Wednesday by a backhoe to the northern end of Seaside's beach. It is roped off and signs have been placed warning the public not to touch the whale and to keep their dogs away.
Aquarium
manager Keith Chandler said it was moved above the high tide line, and
that the northern end allows more room to perform the necropsy.
In the
seriously cute – and still living – department, a yearling
seal wandered up to take a rest on the beaches of Seaside Monday. This
endearing little creature put on a show for Boothe’s camera.
“He was most likely born between May and August of last year,” Boothe said. “Just taking a rest, it was a beautiful day, and the water is cold, so I don't blame him. He was gone the next morning.”
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