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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.
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Model of Phoenix

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Workers prepare to hoist the model of Phoenix, a North Atlantic Right Whale, into position above the exhibit hall floor in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.
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Preparing to Hoist the Right Whale Model

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Phoenix rises out of the waters east of Cape Cod, MA, in April 2003.
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Can Right Whales Recover?

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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.
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Stumpy’s Tail

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Researchers have identified five areas of high North Atlantic right whale concentration between Canada and Florida.
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Finding Phoenix

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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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How Whales Become Entangled

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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.
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Phoenix: Mouth Scarring

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A white scar on Phoenix’s lip (at right) was caused by her entanglement with a fishing line.
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Lip Scar Caused By Fishing Gear

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Phoenix’s entanglement badly injured her right lip, leaving a distinctive scar from that ordeal.
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Beware of Fishing Gear

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A close up view of Phoenix and the rough patches of skin known as callosities that are found on all North Atlantic right whales.
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Phoenix’s Callosities

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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.
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Close Up of Phoenix’s Callosities

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Close-up of a 17th century painting shows how whales were brought ashore for processing and their blubber rendered into marketable oil.
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Basque Whalers

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