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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The rough patches of skin known as callosities occur in unique patterns on all North Atlantic right whales and help researchers identify and track individual whales. This whale is named Phoenix. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
There were fewer than 450 North Atlantic right whales in 2006. Yet it has been illegal to hunt them since 1935. Why haven’t populations increased? Traits that made right whales easy to hunt make them vulnerable to ship collisions and fishing gear. Sometimes, as the whales feed, they get entangled...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Phoenix swimming with her calf in February 2007 in the Southeast calving grounds off the coasts of Georgia and Florida. Researchers track these highly endangered whales (there are only about 450 of them left) very closely and use their skin markings to confirm sightings. The New England Aquarium...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A drawing of Phoenix from the Right Whale Catalog documents her callosity pattern and other identifying marks. More about whales can be found in our Tale of a whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This magnified photo provides a close-up look at copepods—tiny crustaceans that right whales feed on. There are many species of copepods that live throughout the water column, from floating at the surface to buried at the bottom of the sea. They are very small so right whales need to eat a lot of...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
North Atlantic right whales and ocean-going vessels often cross paths.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This may look like a mane of hair, but it’s actually baleen from a North Atlantic Right Whale. Although it looks soft and furry, dried baleen is quite stiff, which made it useful for creating structure in a number of consumer products, including whips and umbrellas. Discover more about this species...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This is North Atlantic right whale #3333 who was spotted with fishing gear trailing from his mouth during an aerial survey off the coast of Georgia on January 29, 2008. Entanglement is one of the most serious threats facing North Atlantic right whales. Fortunately this individual was seen without...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A team from the Center for Coastal Studies works to free a one-year-old right whale from the fishing ropes wrapped and knotted around its body and flippers. The whale is Kingfisher, #3346 in the North American Right Whale Catalog.
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Dec 31 2012 - 8:49am
A right whale opens its mouth wide, revealing huge plates of baleen hanging from its upper jaw. There are between 200 and 270 baleen plates on each side of a right whale's upper jaw. They work like a giant sieve to catch the whale's food. Strong but flexible, baleen is made of the same substance as...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Phoenix rises out of the waters east of Cape Cod, MA, in April 2003. The rough patches of skin (known as callosities) occur in unique patterns on all North Atlantic right whales and help researchers identify and track individual whales. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Right...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Every North Atlantic right whale has a pattern of callosities unique to that individual. This distinctive pattern provides a very visual, convenient tool that researchers can use to tell one individual from another.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Yankee Whalers: An 1856 Currier & Ives print shows whalers harpooning a right whale. More about whales can be found in our Tale of a Whale photo essay.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A white scar on Phoenix’s lip (at right) was caused by her entanglement with a fishing line. Learn more about the life of Phoenix, an actual North Atlantic right whale, in the Tale of a whale photo essay.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A view of the injured fluke belonging to Phoenix’s mother, Stumpy. It is not known what caused this injury. It possibly could have been an entanglement. More about whales can be found in our Tale of a whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This radio device is used to track North Atlantic right whales. Suction cups hold the device to a whale's back, where it records data such as depth, water, temperature, and underwater sounds. Read more about right whales and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Ocean Portal's 'A...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
An early scale model of North Atlantic right whale Phoenix indicates the location of scars on her tail from entanglements with fishing gear. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Phoenix swims in George’s Bank, off the coast of New England, on March 13, 2009. More about whales can be found in our Tale of a whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Whalers harpoon a right whale in this 1856 Currier & Ives print.
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Aug 21 2012 - 8:51am
This early whale was well suited to life at sea. But it also lived on land. An ancestor of the right whale, Maiacetus lived 49-40 million years ago. It had flipper-like limbs and webbed feet, like modern seals. But it also had ankle bones - clues that although Maiacetus swam, its...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
An early scale model of North Atlantic right whale Phoenix that was used to develop a life size model for the Smithsonian shows the location of scars on her mouth from entanglements with fishing gear. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A crew works on creating a life-size, meticulously detailed model of the North Atlantic right whale Phoenix—the “ambassador” of the Smithsonian’s Sant Ocean Hall in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
In 1996, at age nine, Phoenix has her first calf (North Atlantic right whale #2605) off the southeast coast of Florida. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Since 1987, researchers have been tracking the North Atlantic right whale named Phoenix. More about Phoenix can be found in the Tale of a Whale photo essay.
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