Page 76 - KBHA BULLETIN 4

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The large callosity on the nose or rostum of the whale is called the bonnet because it looks like

an old lady’s hat. These growths become encrusted with a barnacle called Tubicinella Major
which only grows on the Southern Right whale. They burrow 3 to 4 cm into the skin of this

growth. There are also hundreds of thousands of little crustacean-like animals that also attach
themselves to the callosities called Cyamids. Their common name is whale lice. The whale

calves become infested with these whale lice as the juvenile lice are waiting at the genital slit to
transfer from the cow onto the calf at birth. If you are close enough to the whale you will also

notice that they have a few hairs growing on the lower and upper jaws and often a callosity is

sited around a few of these hairs.

Right whales have a double blow hole in the shape of a ‘V’. The blow is a cloud of warm breath

coming into contact with the cooler air. If there is no wind they are 4 to 5 metres high. The
toothed whale has a single blow hole. When a whale sounds, they breathe in, close the blow hole

and then dive under the water and come up elsewhere after being submerged for from one to six
minutes.

Their eyesight is very good - they can see both above and below the water and their eyesight is

monocular. Whales are extremely interesting animals and very inquisitive, especially the

youngsters, and if there is a yacht race on they will often do some spy-hopping to have good look
at the people on the yacht.

The whales’ ears are situated inside the head. Behind the eye is a very tiny hole and its passage

leads down to the bulla which is attached to the skull of the whale.

On either side of their body they have a broad flipper which helps them to keep their balance and

also to turn. The bones inside the flipper are exactly like our finger bones but obviously much
thicker. Tail flukes are made up of pure sinew measuring from point to point 5 - 6 metres across.

One of the things you will see the whales doing is slapping their tails on the water. This is called
lob tailing.

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