This week, our Intermediate class has been discussing the natural world and environmental issues.
On Friday, they did a reading about water pollution and also listened to an environmental journalist discussing her work with whales. Then, they went down to Main Beach on an excursion to see what environmental problems they could identify and to discuss possible solutions.
Here are some of the facts that they learned about whales.
- Whales aren’t fish, so they need to come up to the surface to breathe.
- All whales have teeth.
- Female whales are bigger than male ones.
- Whales sleep by shutting alternative sides of their brain. The other side stays awake so they can continue to breathe.
- Whales breathe every 15 minutes.
- Whales can communicate by singing to each other.
- Whales sometimes swim onto the shore and can’t get back to sea.
You can see whales in Byron Bay from April until November as they swim up to Hervey Bay to give birth and then swim back down to Antarctica with their calves in spring. Here are some pictures from a whale watching trip I did last month.
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