Adopt a whale

Blue Whale Adoption Program Mingan Island Cetacean Study

Imagine a creature measuring 7m (22 ft), weighing 3 tons,and growing at 100kg(250lbs) per day. As an adult it can reach 33m(110ft) and 150 tons: 25 elephants

Our blue whale adoption program, created in 1988, has contributed valuable funds needed to support field research on this endangered species each year since.

The funds raised through this program all go directly towards the ongoing blue whale research in the St. Lawrence, Sea of Cortez, and Iceland.

Our adoption program enables the public to follow the movements of individual blue whales through our field studies from year to year.

MICS now has 403 blues whales photographically catalogued for eastern Canadian waters, 96 from Iceland, and 24 from the eastern North Atlantic, photographed predominantly off the Azores. The Sea of Cortez catalogue contains 375 individuals.
Several individuals have been known for more than 20yrs and are regularly resighted in the St. Lawrence.

Each adoption is for two years at a cost of $100 plus postage ($110 for USA and 125$ for Europe*)
for individual foster parents or $1000 for corporate donors.

( * by electronic tranfer since personnal checks cannot be cashed)
You receive:

An 8x10 photograph of the blue whale adopted,
A sighting history of their whale,
An identification report
A certificate of adoption:

During the two-year adoption period you will received field research updates on the blue whale adopted and be able to ask questions of MICS staff biologists.

Please help support our long-term research of the blue whale by clicking on the above certificate and completing the adoption form for your selected whale.

Adoptable Whales

Are you interested in our adoption program?

Simply fill this form and send it to us.

Mics@rorqual.com

The following whales are available for adoption:

Scythe B017

Scythe, a male first sighted in 1983 in the Mingan region so one of the original and longest known blues. Has been
seen often in the Estuary, off Gaspe and off Sept-Iles as well as the the Mingan /Anticosti region throughout the 80s.
An occasional fluker,he is generally a calm, relaxed whale.

CRINKLE B082

Catalogued since 1982, this female is easily recognized by the rough texture of its skin on both sides of the dorsal fin.

CHAMEAU B103

Another female, Chameau has been seen almost every year for the last ten years! She is extremely easy to recognize because of the strange shape of her spine that makes her look like a camel or sometimes a sea serpent

TORISHINTO B112

This male was first photographed in 1985. He has since been observed primarily in the Estuary except for one year, very early in the season, when he was seen in the Sept-Îles region. He also seems to patrol the waters off the northern shore of Gaspésie having been sighted off Rivière-au-Renard, Sainte-anne-des-Monts, and Matane.

BLANCO B169

This male has been around since 85 and has a conspicuous white dorsal fin.

SHIVA B124

Known since 1985, this female was once a regular visitor in the Estuary until 2002 when she was a victim of a collision with a whale-watching boat off Les Escoumins. Since then, her wounds have healed and scarred but we have only observed her in the Gaspésie region, off Cap Gaspé

KINGFISHER B235

We have known her since 1990 and she has been observed almost every year in the Estuary. She is one of the 17 Blue whale females to have been accompanied by a calf in the St. Lawrence. Her left pectoral fin has a large, peculiar notch in it which can be seen when she is surface- feeding.

BIOMBRE B268

This female was observed the first time in 1983. She has always been observed in the Estuary and most of the time she was alone.

POPEYE B318

This male has been known since 1994 and regularly visits the waters of the Estuary though he has also been seen off Gaspésie. His name comes from a characteristic pigmentation mark on his left side evoking the popular cartoon sailor. Popeye is a true Casanova: he is almost always observed flanking a female!