FOR EDUCATORS

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North Atlantic Right Whale

(Eubalaena glacialis)

The Ocean Portal Team

Endangered

IUCN Red List of Endangered Species^TM
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Endangered

A right whale breaches, lifting its huge body out of the water.

Credit:

Courtesy of the New England Aquarium

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 hunted for oil and baleen. Today about a third of right whale deaths are the result of collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing gear. Some scientists fear that right whales could become extinct within 200 years. To prevent that from happening, scientists are using a variety of innovative techniques to study, protect and rescue right whales.

Life & Natural History

Meet not only the North Atlantic right whale but also some other fascinating members of its family tree—past and present. Travel back to the times when whales walked on land and the mighty, serpent-like Basilosaurus prowled the seas.

Diversity

North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are big—but they're not the biggest whales. That distinction goes to the Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus).

Credit:

Smithsonian Institution

Teeth or Baleen?

Over many millions of years, whales evolved into two major groups—those with teeth (Odontoceti), and those with baleen (Mysticeti). Right whales belong to the second group. They are among the largest of the baleen whales, which also includes blue whales and humpbacks. Baleen whales filter food from the water through sieve-like plates of baleen. There are three species of right whales living in different parts of the world: North Atlantic (Eubalaena glacialis), Pacific (Eubalaena japonica), and Southern (Eubalaena australis). Along with other whales, dolphins, and porpoises, right whales are cetaceans—one of the major groups of marine mammals.

Species Ecology

North Atlantic right whales migrate seasonally along the eastern coast of the United States.

Credit:

Adapted from E. Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Graphics; Data from North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium

Seasonal Migrations

Most North Atlantic right whales head south for the winter, to the shallow coastal waters off the southeastern United States. That’s where the females give birth to calves—a single calf every 3-5 years. In spring the whales migrate north. They spend the summer and early fall months feeding and nursing their calves in the waters off New England and the Bay of Fundy. Where do the whales breed? Scientists are still trying to find out. North Atlantic right whales live at least 70 years—and possibly as long as 100 years.

Science

So what are scientists doing to protect the remaining right whales? Everything they can think of including taking pictures from airplanes, attaching radios to whales’ backs, listening underwater for their comings and goings…and much more.

Research

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.

Credit:

Doug Nowacek/Duke University

Keeping Track of Right Whales

One way researchers keep track of North Atlantic right whales is by taking photos from ships and airplanes. They examine the images closely for identifying marks such as the pattern of callosities on their heads. They try to identify individuals by matching the images with other photos in the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog. Records of these sightings provide diaries of individual whales. Researchers also track right whales by attaching electronic tags to their backs. Despite this careful monitoring, some whales disappear each year to unknown locations. Others suddenly reappear, often after a decade’s absence. And some young whales just show up unexpectedly. How can researchers lose track of a huge whale for years at a time? Whales may be big—but the ocean is bigger.

Technology

Hoping to hear bowhead whales, NOAA marine mammal scientist Sue Moore listens to real-time sounds from an underwater hydrophone.

Credit:

J. Potter, NOAA, Hidden Ocean 2005

Listening for Whales

Scientists are using a variety sophisticated technologies in an effort to help right whales survive—including sound. Since 2008 a network of 13 detection buoys has been listening for right whales round-the-clock in the crowded shipping corridors of Massachusetts Bay. Software on each buoy records and analyzes underwater sounds up to 5 nautical miles away. When the software detects the call of a right whale, it sends a message to staff at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They, in turn, alert ships in the area to slow down and watch out for whales.

This whale is entangled in fishing gear. The inset shows how special fishing lines allow whales to escape such accidental entrapments.

Credit:

Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Image taken under NOAA NMHSRP permit #932-1489, with the authority of the US Endangered Species Act Inset: Smithsonian Institution

Protecting Whales from Fishing Gear

Commercial fishing gear can pose a major threat to right whales. As they feed, the whales sometimes get entangled in lines attached to gear at the ocean bottom. New types of fishing gear have been developed to diminish this danger. They include buoy lines with “weak links.” These lines automatically release when pressure is applied, preventing whales from becoming entangled. A network of scientific organizations has also been instrumental in coming to the aid of right whales that may have gotten entangled in fishing gear.

Scientists

Charles Potter (left) and Dr. James Mead of the Smithsonian perform a post-mortem examination on a goose-beaked whale specimen.

Credit:

Chip Clark / Smithsonian Institution

Learning from Dead Specimens

Animals that died as the result of beach strandings, accidents, and other causes form the only means of learning about the anatomy and life history of more than half of all whale species. So when researchers in the Marine Mammal Program at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History are presented with a dead whale specimen, they extract all the biological data they possibly can from the remains. Curator of Mammals Dr. James Mead and Collection Manager Charles Potter examine many dead whales—as well as porpoises and dolphins every year. They used their in-depth knowledge of whale anatomy to help develop the right whale model of “Phoenix” that serves as the centerpiece of the Smithsonian’s Sant Ocean Hall.

Human Connections

Why were right whales considered the “right” whale to hunt for so many years? What threats do they face today? Do these critically endangered whales have a fighting chance?

Whalers harpoon a right whale in this 1856 Currier & Ives print.

Credit:

Library of Congress

Hunting Whales for Profit

Centuries ago, harpooning whales was a way to get rich. A single right whale could yield 5,247 liters (1,386 gallons) of oil plus 293 kilograms (647 pounds) of baleen. Among the most successful hunters of North Atlantic right whales were the Basques of Iberia (Spain). They started hunting whales in western Europe in the 11th century and continued until whales there were depleted. Basque whalers then moved across the Atlantic to Labrador, where from 1520 to 1630 they hunted right and bowhead whales along migration routes. By the 1600s those whale populations, too, had plummeted. So the Basque fishermen turned to cod and seal.

Threats and Solutions

A team works to free a one-year-old right whale from fishing ropes wrapped and knotted around its body and flippers.

Credit:

Katie Jackson/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

A Future for Right Whales?

It has been illegal to hunt right whales since 1935. Then why are there so few of them? Right whales face a variety of threats today. Because of their large size and slow movements, they are vulnerable to colliding with ships and becoming entangled with fishing gear. They may also suffer from pollution, degraded habitats, and declining prey. Every year scientists revise their estimate of the number of right whales still alive. But the number is so small that scientists cannot reliably predict the population’s future size. There is some cause for hope, though. In the winter of 2009, researchers documented 39 new babies on the calving grounds—an all-time record. By September 2009, two of those calves had been killed by ship strikes. But perhaps, with some help from us through both observing and listening, many of the others will grow up to produce their own offspring.

TAGS:

Endangered species, Whales, Cetaceans, Breaching, Right whales

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are whales extinct witch ones are?

Some of your information

Some of your information about fish farming is inaccurate... look into fish farming in Clayoquot Sound

Its truly amazing!!!!these

Its truly amazing!!!!these animals are really cool but there really in danger.Im glad your helping out and I will too!!!!!!

The Japan whale harvest has

The Japan whale harvest has been cut short by the persistent harassment of a U.S.-based anti-whaling organization. Regardless of a global whaling moratorium, Japan exploits a loophole that allows legal whaling for research reasons. I found this here: Anti-whaling harassment ends 2011 Japanese whaling season early Groups such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are making whaling economically unfeasible, and whale meat is no longer considered vital to the Japanese diet.

This whale is amazing, I love

This whale is amazing, I love it. I want to be a Marine Biologist and I just am amazing by this glorious gentle but huge animal. I used to scared by their size, but who can be scared of such a gentle animal. Welcome to Marine life, you never know what's going to happen or what you will find!

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North Atlantic Right Whale

Life & Natural History

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are whales extinct witch ones are?

Some of your information

Its truly amazing!!!!these

The Japan whale harvest has

This whale is amazing, I love

wow, that's not true, God

I have learnt a very good

We will be adding polls to

wow! i didn't know that!

Wow - whale ancestors were

From blog it says you can

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North Atlantic Right Whale

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