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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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Dec 6 2009 - 10:31pm
Stretching up to 16.8 meters (55 feet) long and weighing up to 62 tons (70 tons), the North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s largest animals—and one of the most endangered whales. Scientists estimate that between 300-400 individuals remain. Why so few? For generations the right whale was...
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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
North Atlantic right whales and ocean-going vessels often cross paths.
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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
New England Aquarium researchers Dr. Moira Brown and Yan Guilbault conducting aerial surveys for North Atlantic right whales over the Roseway Basin, Canada. More about right whales can be found in the Tale of a Whale photo essay.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The fringed baleen plates are easy to observe as this North Atlantic right whale skims the water’s surface while it feeds. Many baleen whales suck in as much water was possible, and then push it out through their baleen to sieve out any krill. Right whales, however, skim the water's surface. More...
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Dec 8 2009 - 11:51am
For being so big, right whales eat very small food, which they catch using baleen. Baleen is the series of fringed plates hanging in right whales' mouths that are used to strain seawater for food. Until the early 1900's, right whales were heavily hunted primarily for their fatty blubber, which...
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Sep 30 2009 - 2:03pm
Meet Phoenix—One of about 450 remaining North Atlantic Right Whales
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Phoenix’s mother, Stumpy (#1004), was killed in a collision with a ship near Virginia in February 2004. She was pregnant with her sixth known calf. More about whales can be found in our Tale of a whale featured story.
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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
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
This close-up photo of a right whale's head shows dozens of hitchhikers—tiny crustaceans known as whale lice, or cyamid amphipods. They live on the rough patches of skin (known as callosities) on North Atlantic right whales, eating algae that settles there and only causing minor skin damage....
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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 - 11:46am
Whale baleen, the stiff bristly mouthparts that sieve small prey from the water, was strong yet flexible, and was used to provide structure in many human products, including umbrellas, corsets, and whips. Right whales were easy, lucrative prey. However, it's not used anymore: this species is...
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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 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 16 2013 - 10:49am
A close up view of Phoenix and the rough patches of skin known as callosities that are found on all North Atlantic right whales. These callosities are inhabited by small amphipods called whale lice and they can be used to identify an individual right whale much like fingerprints. More about the...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This illustration shows how fishing lines attached to traps and buoys on the ocean floor present a potentially deadly hazard to North Atlantic right whales.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A life-size, meticulously detailed model of the North Atlantic right whale Phoenix hangs in the Smithsonian’s Sant Ocean Hall in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC. More about Phoenix can be found in the Tale of a Whale photo essay.
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Sep 20 2011 - 12:27pm
In the late 1990's, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) invented the D-Tag—a radio device that can be attached by suction cups to a whale's back. Using a tiny underwater microphone, the tag records sounds that the whale makes and hears underwater. It also records depth,...
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Researchers have identified five areas of high North Atlantic right whale concentration between Canada and 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
The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world's largest animals, but scientists estimate that fewer than 450 remain. Find out why so few remain and take a look at the largest whale.
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Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This photograph was snapped as Phoenix swam in the Gulf of Maine in July 2008. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.
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