Right whales return to Provincetown for rare December frolic

Right Whales were seen breaching in Cape Cod Bay

By Kaimi Rose Lum

Provincetown Banner
Posted December 21, 2011


The right whales have returned in time for the holidays this year, creating such a spectacle in Provincetown Harbor last week that even Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo, researcher of right whales for 30 years, was impressed.

Mayo dashed off to the residence of an old friend, Dick Burhoe, on Beach Point last Thursday after Burhoe reported seeing right whales breaching offshore. The scientist arrived in time to witness a scene worthy of “Animal Planet”: a sort of unwieldy whale ballet being performed about a third of a mile out, as a pair of the rare cetaceans leaped repeatedly from the water.

“I’ve never seen two right whales jumping simultaneously,” Mayo said. “It’s extremely dramatic when you see an extremely rare animal doing such extremely rare behavior. … These two animals were breaching regularly, more than I have ever seen. I probably saw as many as 20 or 30 breaches and maybe more.”

Between jumps, he said, the whales engaged in some overtly flirtatious behavior, rolling at the surface and zigzagging. Frisky groups of right whales are referred to as SAGs, for “sexually active groups” or “surface active groups.”

As far as the right whales’ reproductive calendar goes, December is the most fruitful month, a time when fertilization tends to be successful, Mayo said. So it’s possible that one of the baby right whales born next year will have been conceived in Provincetown.

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