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Coastal Patagonia’s top destination, the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve of Península Valdés is the place where the great southern right whale arrives to breed and birth in the winter months.
Protected since 1935, the ballena franca occupies an almost unique position as a “natural monument”—a designation normally reserved for territorial ecosystems—within the Argentine national park system.
There are several natural reserves with various species of marine fauna along the Patagonian coast,
but none of them offers such a spectacular concentration of wildlife as the Peninsula Valdes.
This peninsula located 1.400 to the south of Buenos Aires, projects into the Sea forming two gulfs
of sheltered waters, and it is a meeting point for the southern right whales depart from Puerto Piramides.
Sea lions, elephant seals, guanacos, rheas, Magellanic penguins and many other seabirds are present in large numbers on the beaches and headlands of one of South America's finest wildlife reserves, Peninsula Valdez, but the biggest attraction is the southern right whale Eubalaena australis, known in Spanish as the ballena franca.
The coasts of Peninsula Valdés are the southern elephant seals' only continental breeding grounds. They are the world's largest seal species, males reaching 20 feet (6.5m) in length and females, 10 feet (3.25m). In July, the bulls return from the sea and establish their territories; later, the females arrive to form their harems, give birth, and then mate again.
During this period, visitors can observe the activities of these animals on the beach, such as the fierce fights between bulls defending their harems and territory, and the females nursing their pups.