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Because of its slow swimming speed and the fact that it floats when dead, this species of whale was for centuries the most persecuted till the early XXth century. Because of its dangerously reduced population it was given international protection in 1935 by the International Whaling Commission. Since then it has been recovering slowly. To give even more strength to efforts for its conservation, Argentina declared it Natural Monument in 1984.

This marine mammal is some 35 to 40 feet long and as an adult weighs in at the region of thirty to forty tons. Its huge head and mouth are where the baleen plates are, acting as filter to sieve out the organisms from the huge mouthful of water it takes to catch those crustaceans. There are some 240 of these plates hanging from the top jaw, some 2.5m long. On the top and sides of the head there are pale patches called callosities where whale lice (Cyamids) live. Because each whale has different patterns in these callosities it has become possible to identify all individuals, thus facilitating studies of the species by following the histories of individuals over time.

These whales come to the sheltered bays of Patagonia starting in May or June. There they calve and mate - never feeding. There too they suffer the demands on their reserves to produce the vast amounts of milk for the calves. By December they all leave for the feeding-grounds - probably in the south Atlantic in sub-antarctic waters where krill, their main food, is seasonally abundant.

Thanks to APN - Administración de Parques Nacionales