St. Lucia Park, South Africa

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The village of St. Lucia is the gateway to the St. Lucia Estuary and the St. Lucia Marine Reserve. Take a boat tour on Lake St. Lucia and watch hippos, crocs and waterbirds. Meet the living dinosaurs at the Crocodile Centre. Take the 1.5 km Gwalagwala Walk from St. Lucia and spot birds and small game or the 65 km, 5 day hike along the Emoyeni Trail and test your skills. Depart on a boat-based whale watching tour. Head to Cape Vidal to fish, observe leatherback and loggerhead turtles, and explore the underwater world. But Robinson Crusoe this is not, the village and the surrounding area are the tourist hub of the entire Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park and the crowds are madding during the peak fishing season.

How Do Baleen Whales Feed?

How Do Baleen Whales Feed? Photo Gallery

There are lots of facts about baleen whales that are fun. Here are few interesting things on how they feed.

Baleen Whales - Bowhead, Humpback, Fin, Minke, Sei, Bryde's, Blue, Grey and Right Whales - feed on very small fish oftentimes as tiny as a grain of rice.
They use their baleen - the comb-like, bristly plates that hang like a curtain from their upper jaw - to trap food in the same way as a strainer.
Baleen whales both lunge and skim.
Baleen whales lunge feed when they spring at their prey mouth open and throat grooves extended. Mouth filled they snap their jaw shut, swallowing their prey and straining the water out.
Skim feeding happens when baleen whales swim slowly at the surface. Mouth open the baleens push their way forward taking in water and food as they move.
Humpback whales feed in an unusual way. Alone or in a group, they trap schools of fish by blowing bubbles around their prey. With nowhere to go the disoriented fish are herded to the surface in a tight school. The humpbacks lunge at their prey, mouth open, and catch as many fish as they can.