Figure l . — Time sequence photographs showing the observed feeding behavior: A, the gray whale first emerging in the kelp canopy; B, 

 jaws extended open allowing surface water to enter mouth; C, mouth closed entrapping water and kelp fronds; D, water expelled 

 through baleen in posterolateral direction. 



which falls well within the size range of the gam- 

 maridean amphipods reportedly composing 95% of 

 the whale's diet in Arctic seas (Rice and Wolman 

 1971). 



In addition to these observations, we noted that 

 during feeding, water was expelled predominately 

 through the right side of the mouth. Kasuya and 

 Rice (1970) found that of 34 whales examined, 31 

 showed disproportionate wear of the baleen on the 

 right side. Analysis from movie footage (8 mm) 

 taken by us shows that of 31 consecutive expul- 

 sions, water passed exclusively from the right side 

 20 times — in the remaining cases it was passed 

 equally or nearly equally from both sides. At no 

 time, however, was the water expelled on the left 

 side exclusively. It is not clear what causes the 

 wear on the baleen plates; perhaps it is unequal 



mechanical rubbing action of the tongue pushing 

 water through the plates. Possibly related to this 

 are observations made by Ray and Schevill (1974) 

 on the captive juvenile gray whale, Gigi. At first 

 this whale was hand fed by her trainers on the left 

 side exclusively. Later, after hand feeding was 

 discontinued and feeding became voluntary, food 

 continued to be ingested solely on the left side. 



Interpretations and Conclusions of Observations 



Several aspects concerning the physical charac- 

 teristics of our whale are worthy of comment. The 

 mean length at birth (January) for a normal gray 

 whale is reported to be ca. 4.9 m and by the time of 

 weaning (August), the animal can be expected to 

 reach a total length of 8.5 m (Rice and Wolman 



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