argentina 2002

watching whales and other fascinating animals
at the peninsula valdez in patagonia in the endless
and wide southern argentina


the peninsula valdez is located at the atlantic coast (see map) near puerto madryn in patagonia, in the cold, flat and empty south of argentina. the nature is incredebly beautiful and rich, you can find sea lions and elephant seals as well as penguins and orcas (if you are lucky) and the huge right wales.

whales

The most impressive creatures are the whales or "las ballenas" how the argentinias call their loved and protected animals. averaging nearly 12m in lenght and weighing more than 30 tons, the southern right wales (eubalaena australis) enter the shallow waters of the golfo nuevo and the golfo san jose in spring to breed and bear their young. you can watch them easily from a boat or just from the beach.

sometimes they hold their tail ("la colita") up to twenty minutes high in the air

a whalemother shows her somehow ugly head


the whale baby came close to our boat to have a look at us

elephant seals

peninsula valdez has the only breeding colony of southern elephant seals on this continent. in late winter the dominant males (known as beachmasters) come ashore and control harems of up to 100 females for breeding. in early summer when the pups are a few weeks old they all go back in the sea, where they spend most of their life.
being much bigger than the females the bulls can reach 7m of lenght and weight up to 3500kg. they take their name from the male's enormous proboscis, which does indeed resemble an elephant's trunk.

sea lions

the southern sea lions are a bit smaller than the elephant seals and widely distributed throughout patagonia, where you can find breeding colonies also on the beaches of the peninsula valdez. the male is an imposing specimen, whose mane resembles that of an african lion.