Ralph Pace (USA) emphasises scale by contrasting a blue whale with a fulmar flying overhead.
Ralph encountered this blue whale - one of three - as it surfaced to take a breath during its southerly migration to the warmer waters of Central America, where it will mate and give birth.
Its great length is put into perspective here by the fulmar overhead, which despite having wings spanning more than a metre wide, is still dwarfed by the whale. Enthralled, Ralph stayed with the group for several days as they joined other blue whales to feed and socialise.
An estimated 2,000 blue whales - around one fifth of the global population - feed in the waters off California. Though numbers are rising, plastic pollution and ship strikes are still affecting the species. While warming oceans are impacting the availability of krill - their main food source.
Hear from scientist Natalie Cooper how Hope the Museum’s iconic blue whale skeleton is giving us a unique insight into the lives of these ocean giants.
USA
Ralph is a freelance underwater and environmental photojournalist living in Monterey, California. He holds a graduate degree in Marine Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His clients include National Geographic Magazine, The Washington Post and The Nature Conservancy.
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