24 Whale Migrations

Whale Migrations written by Rachel Walker

雷切尔·沃克的《鲸鱼迁徙》

Every spring, hungry, grey whales swim north. They swim non-stop, from the warm waters of Mexico, along the coast of North America, then on to the icy-cold waters of the Arctic. The cold Arctic Ocean is their summer feeding grounds.

每年春天，饥饿的灰鲸向北游去。 它们不停地游，从墨西哥温暖的水域，沿着北美海岸，然后到北极冰冷的水域。 寒冷的北冰洋是它们夏季的觅食地。

baleen All summer, the grey whales eat as much as they can. They don't have teeth. Instead, grey whales have baleen plates. Baleen is more like your fingernails than your teeth. Baleen works a bit like a comb, to catch the food, in the gaps.

整个夏天，灰鲸尽可能多地吃东西。 它们没有牙齿。相反，灰鲸有鲸须盘。 鲸须更像你的指甲而不是牙齿。 鲸须的工作有点像梳子，在缝隙中捕捉食物。

krill Grey whales are the only bottom-feeding whales. They dive right down to the bottom of the sea and take large mouthfuls of sand and water from the sea-floor. Next, they spit out all of the sand and water back into the ocean, through the gaps in their baleen. This leaves lots of little bits of food, called krill, trapped in their mouths, for them to eat. It's delicious for the whales!

灰鲸是唯一的海底食鲸。 它们直接潜入海底，大口大口地从海底吸取沙子和水。 接下来，它们把所有的沙子和水通过鲸须的缝隙吐回大海。 这就留下了很多小块的食物，叫做磷虾，困在它们的嘴里，供它们吃。 对鲸鱼来说是美味的!

Mexico As the seasons change again, the cold waters in the Arctic begin to slowly freeze and ice-over. There is less sunlight and less food, so the grey whales start their return swim south. As they migrate 8,000 kilometers, they swim the long journey back past the coast of North America, and return to the warm waters of Mexico. This long migration takes the whales almost two months! Here, in the warm Mexican waters, the grey whales have their calves.

随着季节的再次变化，北极的冷水开始慢慢冻结和结冰。 阳光更少，食物更少，所以灰鲸开始向南游回。 当它们迁徙8000公里时，它们游过漫长的旅程，经过北美海岸，回到墨西哥温暖的水域。 这种漫长的迁徙需要鲸鱼将近两个月的时间!这里，在温暖的墨西哥水域，灰鲸生下了它们的幼崽。

While they stay in the warm, safe, and calm waters of Mexico, the mother whales give birth to their baby calves. The baby whales, glossy skin feels like wet rubber. For the first few months of their lives, the whale calves drink so much mothers, milk, that they grow bigger and stronger each day.

当它们呆在温暖、安全、平静的墨西哥水域时，母鲸生下了它们的幼崽。 幼鲸光滑的皮肤摸起来像湿橡胶。 在它们生命的最初几个月里，幼鲸喝了大量的母鲸和乳汁，所以它们每天都长得越来越大，越来越强壮。