They begin the return trip to Alaska about February. The 10,000-mile round trip is the longest known migration of any marine mammal. Whether headed north or south, gray whales present a rare spectacled for land-bound humans. In December and January and again in March and April, Californians can watch gray whales from coastal cliffs and headlands or from boats. Their luck is due to the gray whale's feeding habits.
Most baleen whales swim through the sea with mouths open.
As they swim, they strain tiny food animals out of the water with their long, springy baleen. But gray whales feed on animals that live on the sea floor, and the sea floor is both closest and richest in animal life near shore. In fact, gray whales live nearer to shore than any of the other great baleen whales. It's no wonder scientists placed the gray whale in its own family. And it's no wonder that the gray whale was adopted as the official marine mammal on January 1, 1976.