The Peninsula ValdÉs National Park, in Argentina, with 3.600 square kilometers and especially 400 kilometers of coast, is home to many species like Sea Lions, the only colony of Sea Elephants on a continent apart from Antarctica, Guanacos, Magellanic Penguins and the endangered Ballena Franca Austral or Southern Right Whale…
The whales come to the sheltered “Golfo Nuevo” in spring to give birth and breed the pups before the head out into the ocean again. Needless to say they are huge: on average 12 meters long and 30 tons weigh. What is characteristic for the Ballena Franca Austral are the white pimple-like spots around the head. They are born with these, thus they can be compared to finger prints, because no two whales have the same. The white color of these spots comes from the parasites that live on them. Often birds, when diving for the parasites, hurt the whales.
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