North Atlantic Right Whale
Also known as the Eubalena Glaclalis
Some Info About Right Whales
The North Atlantic Whales were seen somewhere between Maine and Florida. The whales live in a deep, cold ocean. Their heads take up about 1/3 of their entire body, which is generally somewhere around 49-60 long. Weighing between 88,000-150,000 pounds, these whales are extremely well known for their blubber. That is part of why they are extremely close to being extinct. The Japanese and the Soviet Union never agreed to not hunt these sea creatures, which resulted in many of them being killed and their blubber and baleen being sold.
Map of Where Right Whales Were Last Seen
The Northern Pacific Right Whales were last seen swimming along the coast of the states between Maine and all the way down to Florida. They have always been swimming along the Northern Pacific Coast, but now because so many have died, they are a lot more spread out.
Swimming Around
They don't have a dorsal fin, a very broad and triangular tail, their skin is a black/ dark grey color with some white coloring on their stomach.
Pregnant Right Whale
The Right Whales can start having children after for living for 10 years. They have a full year pregnancy, and only birth one whale every pregnancy.
SUSPECTED CULPRITS
Who's killing them? The reason this species is going extinct is because before whaling was completely extinct, the Soviet Union and the Japanese still hunted these whales because they have an insane of amount of blubber, and because they have a lot of baleen which is very valuable. After they have been killed, they float to the top because their fat percentage is so highs o the whales are easy to retrieve. The whales also have a hard time repopulating because they have to wait until they are 10 years of age to start having children, and their pregnancy is a full year, which only results in 1 child.
RECOVERY PLAN
The foundations Marine Mammal Protection Act and the U.S. Endangered Species Act are working to eliminate dangers for these whales. They have been removing nets, which the whales often get tangled up in, they have been tracking the whales, and trying to move them closer together so they have higher chances of mating with each other.
Reward For Saving the Right Whales
Many animals are going extinct, but I think that these are the RIGHT animals to save. These animals have the most amount of fat on their body out of all of the animals in the world. They are important predator's of krill and microcrustacean families. Their bodies are also homes for barnacles and whale lice. Saving them means keeping a healthy amount of krill and microcrustacean's in the water and supplying homes to barnacles and whale lice.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
North Atlantic Right Whale, written September 2nd, 2015
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_right_whale
North Atlantic Right Whales, written by the NOAA team on February 20th, 2015
http://nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/north-atlantic-right-whale
Right Whales, written by Julie Beer, written October 4th 2014
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/right-whale/