whale migration

Greenland: New Home for Right Whales

By sarajean on 5/25/09 9:05pm
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Though the right whale has thought to have been extinct in the area around Greenland by the scientific community for at least 200 years, underwater scientific microphones, or hydrophones, have detected a group of three of the endangered species in that very place last week.

With only a small surviving population of 300 to 400 right whales total, the number is considered significant.

Perhaps this migration can be attributed to the good news that erika reported earlier this month—that there’s been an increase in the population overall this year. With 40% of the species being wiped out by human hands—mostly through ship collisions—it’s remarkable that the last year may have marked the first period in which no right whales were killed by humans since the 1600s!

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Thar She Blows!

By macallister on 5/11/09 8:22pm
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There's some excellent news about the endangered blue whale, this week. Blue whales seem to be re-establishing a regular migration pattern along the west coast of the U.S., as far north as the Gulf of Alaska.

The Marine Mammal Science journal published research documenting fifteen individual blue whales identified between B.C. Canada and Alaska. These would have been regular seasonal territorial waters for the blue whale, before commercial whaling drove the species to the brink of extinction.

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