Blues are bigger; fin whales, faster; humpbacks, more acrobatic. But the nobly named Eschrichtius robustus (aka Eastern Pacific Gray)— splotched, blunt-headed, stout and muscular–is nothing less than amazing. World Whale Day, celebrated the third Sunday of February, is an ideal time to celebrate their awesomeness.
“Do you know what whale breath smells like?”
Our captain doesn’t wait for a reply.
“Rotten broccoli!” he bellows as a humpback spouts a few yards from our boat.
Awed by its size and unexpected stench, I almost forget that these majestic giants are, like us, air-breathing, warm-blooded, baby-nursing mammals. But unlike us, some whales have bodies as long as two school buses, tongues that weigh as much as an elephant and hearts the size of a small car, with an aorta (main artery) wide enough for a human to slide through.
