Gray whales accomplish an annual migration which
spans as much as 50° of latitude in the northeast
Pacific Ocean. This migration links their summer high
latitude feeding grounds with winter calving and breeding
areas. The purpose of this study was to determine how
adult females apportion their stored lipid reserves while
away from their principal feeding areas to accommodate
their own maintenance and locomotory needs while
developing a fetus and transferring energy through
lactation to support growth and maintenance of their
calves.
Major components of this study included examinations
of migratory swimming speeds and costs of transport, of
calf growth and mortality rates, of metabolic and heat
loss rates, of summer distribution patterns, and of the
magnitudes and utilization rates of maternal lipid
reserves. The results of this study support the
conclusions of other investigations that calf heat losses
are similar to minimum observed metabolic rates, and that
maintenance and lactation costs can be accommodated
without winter feeding by all but the small adult females.
It is suggested that present oceanographic conditions in
the North Pacific Ocean support a larger gray whale
population and allow very different gray whale feeding and
migrating patterns than existed during the last glacial
maximum. / Graduation date: 1986
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/28090 |
| Date | 18 March 1986 |
| Creators | Sumich, James L. |
| Contributors | Mate, Bruce R. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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