Whale Watching

Whale Watching

Qikiqtarjuaq's location along the Davis Strait makes it uniquely situated for whale watching. Whale watchings sightings in the Davis Strait area include:

• Right Whales- these whales were named right whales, because for the early whalers they were the right ones to catch. They grow to be about 60 feet long.
• Sperm Whales- Moby Dick was a Sperm whale. They have largest brain of any animal. Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales growing to be about 50-60 feet (17-20 m) long and weighing about 40-50 tons.
• Beluga Whales- Beluga means "white one" in Russian. The beluga whale is white as an adult. They have a stout body and a small, blunt head with one blowhole. Belugas are also known as "sea canaries" because of their songs and chatter.
• Bowhead Whales- the only large whale to live exclusively in the Arctic. The Bowhead whale is a very stocky animal with a large head. The mouth is bowed strongly upward.
• Orcas- The Orca or Killer whale is sometimes called the "wolf of the sea" because its behavior is similar to that of wolves. Orcas live in small, close-knit, lifelong pods and have 1 blowhole. The Killer whale belongs to the family of dolphins and is the biggest dolphin.
  
• Narwhals- one of the rarest whales in the oceans. It makes its home in the frigid waters of the Arctic and it is seldom seen south of the Arctic Circle. The Narwhal has a tooth on the left-hand side of its upper jaw that grows into a long spiral horn. The horn may grow to a length of over 9 feet and weigh up to 22 pounds.
• Blue Whale

A Narwhal

The Right Whale

Sperm Whale

Orca

Two Blue whales swimming

A Blue whale feeding

The Blue Whale

The Blue whale is the largest animal that ever lived on Earth, even larger than the largest dinosaur. Blue whales have been known to grow to over 30 metres long and weigh up to 190 tonnes. Blue whales are bluish grey with white under their flippers. The blue whale feeds on krill. They eat from 2 to 4 tonnes of food per day. During the summer they travel up the Davis Strait to feed. They feed in polar waters in summer and spend the winter in tropical and subtropical waters.

Blue whales produce very low frequency sounds (even below 20 Hz), which can be detected over large distances. Blue whales usually swim alone or in groups of 2 or 3. They may group together on feeding grounds and form groups with fin whales.

The Blue whale population is Canada is fewer than 250 mature blue whales and have been declared a protected species.