Gray Whale

SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW!

NAME:___________________________________________

LOCATION:______________________________________

One characteristic whales share with other mammals is: A. Their skin is very warm. B. They walk on land. C. They give milk to their young. D. They weigh several tons.

Gray whales migrate. A. True B. False

Gray whales became endangered when they were hunted for their: A. Teeth B. Blubber C. Babies D. Fins

The long, stiff bristly strips that hang from a gray whale’s upper jaws are called flippers. A. True B. False

5. Which of the whales listed below is the longest? A. Minke whale B. Humpback whale C. Blue Whale D. Gray Whale

6. How are whales different from most other mammals? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BONUS! Draw a picture of a gray whale next to a person to compare the size.

ANSWER KEY: Correct Answer: C. Whales give milk to their young. The answer to this question can be found on page 2, paragraph 3, as a continuation of “On the Trail of the Whale”. As an extension question, you might ask students, “What about whales makes them different than other mammals?” They do not have hair (answer can again be found on page 2, paragraph 3, as a continuation of “On the Trail of the Whale”). Correct Answer: True. Gray whales do migrate. The answer can be found on the poster under “The yearly trek of the gray whale”. You might ask students, “What does it mean to migrate?” When an animal migrates, it moves from one habitat to another. Ask students to describe the gray whales migration. Gray whales spend summers in the Bering and Chukchi seas to feed on the tiny marine mammals living there. They start heading south in late September to end up in Mexico (specifically Baja California). Another question for students could be, “Why would gray whales migrate?” Gray whales migrate to take advantage of the unique habitats that different places offer. Correct Answer: B. Blubber. The answer can be found on page 2, paragraph 4, as a continuation of “On the Trail of the Whale”. The text describes it as “oil-rich” blubber. As an extension question, you might ask students, “What do we use oil for?” Blubber can be used as fuel in lamps and as candle wax. Ask students, “What happened that stopped this practice?” Gray whales began disappearing, with fewer than 2,000 remaining in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Correct Answer: B. False. The bristle-like strips that hang from a whale’s upper jaws are called baleen. The answer can be found in the center poster, lower right hand corner, in the section “A Whale of a Meal”. Flippers, on the other hand, are used to help whales steer and appear on either side of a whale’s body (this answer can be found on page 2, paragraph 2, as a continuation of “On the Trail of the Whale”). Ask students, “Why might baleen be useful to whales?” Answer- it filters out water and dirt while also trapping small animals. Correct Answer: C. Blue Whale. A blue whale is 98 feet long. The answer to this question can be found in the center posted, upper right hand corner, in “Big, Bigger, Biggest!”. You could also ask students, “Which of the whales listed is the shortest”? The answer is the minke whale (33 feet). Students can answer this question in a variety of ways. The primary difference between gray whales and other mammals is that gray whales do not have hair or fur, while most other mammals do. The answer can again be found on page 2, paragraph 3, as a continuation of “On the Trail of the Whale”. Students may have additional answers to this question, which requires them to go beyond the text and generalize what they have learned. Gray whales also differ from many mammals in that they live in the water, not on land. Students can also describe physical characteristics of whales, such as the fact that they have fins, they swim instead of walking, and they are shaped quite differently (and are much larger) than many other mammals that live on land. However, some other mammals live in the water. Ask students to see if they can name some mammals that live in water. For example, dolphins live primarily in water, but need air to breathe.

BONUS: Ask students to show their pictures. Gray whales can be as long as 46 feet, while people are approximately 4 – 6 feet tall. In addition, humans weigh approximately 100- 200 lbs while gray whales weight 40 tons (there are 2000 pounds in one ton).