Gray Whale in Mexico

The gray (or grey) whale, Eschrichtius robustus, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of about 16 m (52 ft), a weight of 36 tonnes (35 long tons; 40 short tons), and lives 50-70 years. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called devil fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted.

Each October, as the northern ice pushes southward, small groups of gray whales in the eastern Pacific start a two to three-month, 8,000-11,000 kilometers (5,000-6,800 mi) trip south. Beginning in the Bering and Chukchi seas and ending in the warm-water lagoons of Mexico's Baja peninsula and the southern Gulf of California, they travel along the west coast of Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Traveling night and day, the gray whale averages approximately 120 kilometers (75 mi) per day at an average speed of 8 kilometers per hour (5 mph). This round trip of 16,000-22,000 kilometers (9,900-14,000 mi) is believed to be the longest annual migration of any mammal.