Lost young gray whale, weak and searching for its pod, might still have a chance

Juvenile whales generally need to be shown the way to Alaska on their first migration but the juvenile gray whale seen lately along the Southern California coast seems to have become separated from its mother before its training was complete, according to an expert in the field.

Now the 18-foot whale is in danger of starving while its pod is likely feasting in the northern waters.

The whale was first spotted in San Diego on Aug. 7 before being seen in Dana Point, Newport Harbor and Long Beach. The whale was last reported in Seal Beach on Tuesday.

Regina Guazzo, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography graduate student specializing in gray whales, said Thursday that the whale was likely born in Mexico in mid-January and possibly stayed in those waters for too long as the gray whales migrated to Alaska.

The whole population of about 27,000 gray whales departs from Mexico in March or April on a northern journey to Alaska, where the whales feed on small crustaceans living on the ocean floor.

Reports this week were that the lost juvenile whale appeared emaciated, likely because the mammal should be replenishing in time for the migration back to Mexico, where female whales give birth. Guazzo said the whales tend not to eat while migrating or in Mexico, due to lack of food abundance.

“Six months out of the year they don’t eat,” she said. “That’s why they need to eat all summer to get really fat so they can make the journey.”

Despite its less than ideal situation, there is still hope for the baby whale.

Guazzo said it may be guided by instinct as it travels north along the coastline.

Gray whales hug the shore when migrating, though Guazzo said experts don’t exactly know why, perhaps to use the sounds of breaking waves or kelp beds to shield the sound of their movement from killer whales, their main predators as they migrate.

Guazzo said she wasn’t aware of any documented case where a whale calf found its mother after being separated, but that may not be necessary for its survival.

“I don’t think it needs its mother anymore,” she said. “It just needs to get to a place where it could get food and be with the other gray whales.”

It might not have to travel as far as Alaska to do that. A couple hundred of the whales stop as close as Oregon or Washington to feed.

Worrisome members of the public may think that rescuers should step in to aid the whale in its travels, but Guazzo said it’s generally best to let the animal figure it out on its own.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter:@benbrazilpilot