Did you know that one gray whale made a round-trip journey of more than 22,000 kilometers — nearly 14,000 miles — across the Pacific Ocean, setting a record for the longest mammal migration? Here are six more fun facts about the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus).

1. The gray whale feeds mainly on benthic crustaceans, which it eats by turning on its side (usually its right side, which scientists say results in the loss of eyesight in the right eye for many older animals). Gray whales use their snouts to forage for their meals by dislodging tiny creatures from the seafloor.

2. Gray whales were once called devil fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted.

3. The gray whale has a dark slate-gray color and is covered by characteristic gray-white patterns, which are scars left by parasites that drop off in the cold waters of its feeding grounds. These parasites can make the whales look like encrusted rocks. Very big rocks.

Related Reading: What It’s Like to Swim With Humpback Whales

4. These whales were once the target of extensive hunting, and by the early 20th century, they were in serious danger of extinction. Today, their population has rebounded, but the western North Pacific population is considered critically endangered.

5. Some gray whales swim roughly 12,000 miles round-trip from their summer home in Alaskan waters to the warmer waters off the Mexican coast. (Don't think that's far? The driving distance between New York City and San Francisco is roughly 5,816 miles.) Mexico's shallow, warm lagoon waters in which gray whales reproduce are believed to protect newborn whales from sharks and orcas. (A smaller population of gray whales lives in the Pacific Ocean waters near Korea.)

6. Newborn gray whales are about 16 feet long at birth (newborn blue whales, the largest animals on earth, measure 25 feet at birth). Mature gray whale adults measure 43 to 49 feet in length — about the width of a basketball court (Tyrannosaurus rex was only about 20 feet tall; giraffes are roughly 16 feet tall; a school bus is usually about 40 feet long).