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Understanding patterns of whale migration means coming to the realization that whale life forms on our planet have developed an extremely complex whale life. Usually, the number one question that continues to crop up about whales is why do these mammals migrate all around the world’s oceans like they do?

As far as all of the varied whale species go, there doesn’t really seem to be one that doesn’t migrate. In fact, most end up on very long trips in order to travel from one area in a part of the world to another area in a different part of the world. Most patterns seem to show a migration from higher or lower latitudes to lower or higher latitudes elsewhere.

Normally, a typical whale will spend one part of the year feeding vigorously and then begin to migrate to a part of their particular ocean in order to begin the process of mating and then giving birth to a calf. These trips from feeding grounds to mating and birthing grounds can encompass thousands of miles of travel. This is an ancient act bred deeply into each species.

A typical example of such migratory activity is the blue whale. Almost every blue whale undertakes a migration, spending the summer in cooler waters in the Northern Hemisphere and building up fat stores from extensive feeding. Come winter, though, it begins a move to the South and the warmer waters that exist there. Why, though, does a blue whale moved in this particular pattern?

Most marine biologists have a couple of different answers, with the most common being that the whale has learned to evolve in order to take advantage of feeding opportunities existing in cooler waters but also to take advantage of birthing and mating environments in summer waters. These waters also give a calf born of a mother to learn how to begin to take care of itself in a more welcoming environment

Whatever the reasons for migration, it is a thing of natural wonder and beauty to see these magnificent mammals make their stately way throughout the world’s oceans and waters in a pattern that reaches back into a past we cannot even begin to understand. These animals are supremely intelligent and operate on a level of intellect we might not ever be able to decipher.

Allan Hoffland has been watching whales for nearly five decades and is fascinated by whale migration.

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