North Pacific Right Whale
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| North Pacific Right Whale | ||||||||||||||||
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| Eubalaena japonica |
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 Range map.
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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.[citation needed]
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[edit] 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 have been protected since 1937,[2] Soviet whalers illegally caught several hundred in the 1960s.
[edit] 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. [3]
[edit] 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. [4]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Eubalaena japonica, IUCN Red List.
- ^ M. Carwardine: "Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises", pages 44-47. Dorling Kindersley, 2002.
- ^ M. Carwardine: "Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises", pages 44-47. Dorling Kindersley, 2002.
- ^ M. Carwardine: "Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises", pages 44-47. Dorling Kindersley, 2002.
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