Everything about The North Pacific Right Whale totally explained
The
North Pacific Right Whale is a
whale species belonging to the
Eubalaena genus. Its scientific name is
Eubalaena japonica. Estimates of its population range from 100 to 300 individuals. Although the whales have been protected from
whaling since
1935, illegal Soviet whaling in the
1950s and
60s depleted their numbers further. The
World Conservation Union has expressed concern that its numbers are now too low for recovery, and that
extinction may be inevitable. Since the
Baiji was declared
functionally extinct in 2006, the Northern Pacific Right Whale is now the most endangered marine mammal on Earth.
Hunting
The Northern Pacific Right Whale is closely related to the other members of its genus, the Southern and North Atlantic Right whales (
Eubalaena australis and
Eubalaena glacialis respectively). Right whales were hunted to near extinction by whalers because they were easy to approach, lived close to shore, floated when they died, and provided a large amount of oil, meat and whalebone (baleen).
The
Japanese hunted North Pacific Right Whales since at least the late 16th century. In 1835 the first
European whaleship hunted right whales off the coast of
British Columbia. This area, called the
Northwest Ground, peaked in the early to mid-1840s, but went into decline soon after, and was mostly abandoned for grounds discovered in the
Sea of Okhotsk and
Bering Strait region. North Pacific Right Whales continued to be hunted by open-boat whalers into the early 20th century, and were also occasionally taken by modern whalers working out of whaling stations in
Japan,
Alaska, British Columbia, and
California. Although they've been protected since 1937, Soviet whalers illegally caught several hundred in the 1960s.
Behavior
Right Whales are slow swimmers, yet acrobatic. They occasionally wave flippers above the surface of the water, breach, and flipper-slap. They are known to be playful and inquisitive.
Appearance
Right whales have large heads covered in grayish callosities. They are blue in color except for irregular white patches on their bellies. They have a very arched mouth line and no dorsal fin. The chin is darker in color than the rest of the body. Their pectoral fins are large and spatulate.
Further Information
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