Dear reader,
In almost a few weeks, the Whale Museum in Húsavík will publish a short informative text about the most common whale species in Skjálfand. We start the game on the Steypireyðn, which is the largest animal on earth.
Latin name: Balaenoptera musculus
English name: blue whale
Icelandic name: Steypireður
Average age: 80-90 years
Food choices: Marine animals and small fish
Size: up to 30 meters
Weight: up to 200 tons
The gazelle is the largest animal that has ever lived on earth. The largest single animal ever measured was a female, measuring approximately 33,6 meters. Most grayling are between 29-30 meters and the males are generally smaller than the females. The length of an otter is therefore not dissimilar to three medium-sized buses or six full-grown elephants. The tongue can weigh 6 tons, which is similar to the weight of a single elephant. The heart is the size of a passenger car. The heartbeat can be heard from up to 3,2 km away. Also, the veins of the reef are wider so that small children could swim through them.
The gestation period for gray seals is 11-12 months, and the female can have a new offspring every three years. The offspring is born 8 meters long and the birth weight is around 2700 kg. In the first year of life, the calf will gain weight by 90 kg per day, as the daily milk intake is 600 liters! Like other right whales, minke whales travel to warmer areas during the winter to mate and have offspring. In the summer, however, they travel to colder sea areas where the main focus is on foraging.
Sperm whales are ski whales and use a special filtering method to catch marine animals for food. They ingest large amounts of seawater, along with marine animals and small fish, and then push the sea out through their skis so that food is left alone. An adult animal can eat 36 tons of marine animals per day. The average diving time when searching for food is 10 minutes, but gray whales can dive for 20 minutes.
Steypireyðir are fast swimmers and always travel at around 8 km/h, but can speed up to 30 km/h if needed. When they come to the surface to breathe, the blast can reach a height of 9 meters.
Sperm whales communicate with low-frequency sounds that are so low that the human ear can barely detect them. However, the other sounds that great gray whales make are some of the loudest that exist and can be heard up to 1600 km away.
White-tailed eagles are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Endangered Animals. The population is recovering from heavy whaling seasons in the 20th century that went a long way toward wiping out the species. It is estimated that the population size of blue whales is now between 10-25 thousand animals.
It is most likely to see gray whales in Skjálfandaflói from mid-May until mid-July. In recent years, they have also been seen in March and September, but usually for a rather short time at a time.
