Blue whales were initially tough to hunt because of their size and speed. Large-scale takes did not begin until 1864, when the Norwegian Svend Foyn invented the exploding harpoon gun and by using them with steam and diesel-powered ships. From 1866–1978, more than 380,000 blue whales were taken, mostly from Antarctic waters. Blue whale takes peaked in 1931 when over 29,000 blue whales were killed. The International Whaling Commission banned all hunting of blue whales in 1966 and gave them worldwide protection. However, the Soviet Union continued illegal whaling into the 1970s, and the last catch was taken by a Spanish expedition in 1978.
Historic threats
Blue whale
Blue whale | Historic threats
Norwegian Svend Foyn invented the exploding harpoon gun and by using them with steam and diesel-powered ships to hunt them down. Yes, from hunting. Yes, hunting. Blue whales were initially tough to hunt because of their size and speed. Large-scale takes did not begin until 1864, when the Norwegian Svend Foyn invented the exploding harpoon gun and by using them with steam and diesel-powered ships
who makes up most of the population of antarctica
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5,000 in the summer and much lesser in winter
assistant
where did it get the name from?
user
It is the romanised version of the Greek compound word "antarktiké" meaning "opposite to the Arctic", "opposite to the north"
assistant
what kinds of animals can be seen there?
user
Some species of marine animals include penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals
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what sort of weather conditions it has?
user
It is the coldest of Earth's continents.
assistant
how big is the second marine animal mentioned?
user
A maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and weight of 173 tonnes (190 tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed.
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how fast is it while swimming?
user
Blue whales leisurely traveling rates is 4.6 mph. The maximum speed of a blue whale while being chased or harassed has been reported at 20 to 48 km/h
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what does it feed on?
user
Their diet consists almost exclusively of euphausiids (krill)
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how long does it live?
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73 years
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does it face any threat or problems?
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Blue whales were initially tough to hunt because of their size and speed. Large-scale takes did not begin until 1864, when the Norwegian Svend Foyn invented the exploding harpoon gun and by using them with steam and diesel-powered ships. From 1866–1978, more than 380,000 blue whales were taken, mostly from Antarctic waters. Blue whale takes peaked in 1931 when over 29,000 blue whales were killed. The International Whaling Commission banned all hunting of blue whales in 1966 and gave them worldwide protection. However, the Soviet Union continued illegal whaling into the 1970s, and the last catch was taken by a Spanish expedition in 1978.
Blue whale | Historic threats
Blue whales were protected in areas of the Southern Hemisphere starting in 1939. In 1955 they were given complete protection in the North Atlantic under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling; this protection was extended to the Antarctic in 1965 and the North Pacific in 1966. The protected status of North Atlantic blue whales was not recognized by Iceland until 1960. Blue whales are formally classified as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act and considered "depleted" and "strategic" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed blue whales as "endangered". They are also listed on Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
Blue whale | Conservation status
The law imposes a maximum punishment of six years in prison.
Blue Whale Challenge | Russia
Although for some populations there is not enough information on current abundance trends (e.g., Pygmy blue whales), others are critically endangered (e.g., Antarctic blue whales).
Blue whale | Conservation status
For the period 1970 to October 2006, humans have been responsible for 48% of the 73 documented deaths of the North Atlantic right whale. A 2001 forecast showed a declining population trend in the late 1990s, and indicated a high probability that North Atlantic right whales would go extinct within 200 years if the then-existing anthropogenic mortality rate was not curtailed. The combined factors of small population size and low annual reproductive rate of right whales mean that a single death represents a significant increase in mortality rate. Conversely, significant reduction in the mortality rate can be obtained by preventing just a few deaths.
North Atlantic right whale | Threats
Females may live up to 43 years of age.
Antarctic minke whale | Natural history
The most recent analysis estimates that the Balaenopteridae family diverged from other families in the late Miocene, between 10.48 and 4.98 million years ago.
Blue whale | Evolution
The pygmy blue whale formed from a founder group of Antarctic blue whales about 20,000 years ago, around the Last Glacial Maximum. This is likely because blue whales were driven north by expanding ice, and some have stayed there ever since. The pygmy blue whale's evolutionarily recent origins cause it to have a relatively low genetic diversity.
Pygmy blue whale | Evolutionary history
The blue whale is the largest species of whale, and the largest species of animal known to have existed. Blue whale may also refer to:
Blue whale (disambiguation) | Introduction
Petersburg, Russia); Iceland Husavik Museum (Húsavík, Iceland), the Museum of South-East Sulawesi (Kendari, Indonesia), the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington, New Zealand) and the Marine Science Museum at Tokai University (Tokyo, Japan). Skulls are kept in the Paris Museum of Paleontology (France), Phan Tiet City, Vietnam, and the Regional Museum of Ancud (Chile). The Göteborg Natural History Museum (Sweden) contains the only taxidermized blue whale in the world, a 52 ft (16 m) juvenile killed after stranding alive in 1865, with its skeleton mounted beside the mount.
Blue whale | Museum specimens
Additionally, the film is set in the 1920s, before the blue whale model was built.
Natural History Museum, London | In fiction
In addition, the ovaries of female blue whales form a permanent record of the number of ovulations (or perhaps pregnancies), in the form of corpora albicantia. These fibrous masses are permanent scars that have been used in the past as an indication of age. In pygmy blue whales, one corpus albicans is formed every 2.6 years on average, which matches the two- to three-year interval between calves.
Blue whale | Life span
The subject of the final programme was due to be the Yangtze river dolphin; however, the species was declared extinct in 2007. Instead, he takes Fry to the Gulf of California on the eastern side of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico to search for the endangered blue whale. The area is an important breeding ground for many cetaceans, and one they are almost guaranteed to find is the grey whale. In San Ignacio Lagoon, a group approaches so close to their boat that they reach into the water and touch them. They ride mules through the peninsula's desert interior to view rock art painted by the Cochimí, a Pre-Columbian civilisation.
Last Chance to See (TV series) | 6. "<a href="Blue%20whale">Blue whale</a>"
In 2011 he made recompense by returning to release newly hatched turtles into the wild. He remembers his personal encounters with mountain gorillas, blue whales and giant tortoises. He documented how blue whales, driven to near-extinction by hunting, were now making a comeback thanks to conservation efforts from pressure groups like Greenpeace. The plight of other threatened species were also highlighted, including the alarming decline in amphibians, insects, otters and rhinoceroses. The launch of Apollo 8 in 1968 allowed us to think globally and see the threat to the planet with views of the shrinkage to the polar ice caps becoming visible and coral reefs dying as a result of climate change.
Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild | "Our Fragile Planet"
The part of the Chilean Sea immediately northwest of Chiloé is an important long-term feeding area for blue whales. In the period between 1926 and 1967 whaling ships slaughtered about 97% of the blue whales in the southern Pacific. The relatively small and isolated population remaining near the Chiloé is threatened by the risk of collision from increasing volumes of shipping, noise and pollution from a Norwegian salmon farming operation and possibly from rising ocean temperatures leading to changes in the food species available to the whales. A 2007 survey showed that many of the whales feeding in the area were thin and/or had skin lesions.
Alfaguara project | Conservation issues
Without the interference of noisy naval alarms, they can hear the mating calls of other whales from 2000 miles away. Remains of large ships appear on beaches all over the world after two centuries of errant journeys over (and under) the waves. Plants and trees completely eliminate the excess CO in the atmosphere.
Aftermath: Population Zero | (200 years A.H.)
Mounted blue whale skeletons can be found prominently in the cathedral-like entrance hall to the Natural History Museum (London, UK); the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz (California); the Melbourne Museum (Australia); Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (California); New Bedford Whaling Museum (Massachusetts); North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, NC); Iziko South African Museum (Cape Town, South Africa); Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa); Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Canada); Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada); Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St.
Blue whale | Museum specimens
The largest of these, the blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus"), grows to long weighing 84 tonnes. Many of these species are migratory, and travel to tropical waters during the Antarctic winter.
Southern Ocean | Mammals
As professor at Russian State University for the Humanities, Alexandra Arkhipova found that the administrators were found to be children aged between 12 and 14, drawn to the story as it became widely reported and not, as the hysteria had intimated, predatory adults.
Blue Whale Challenge | Background
By comparison, the blue whale reaches in length.
Maraapunisaurus | Size
His departure left the Blue Whales to adopt a different offensive approach for the 2015–16 CBA season.
Sichuan Blue Whales | History
In March 2008, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans stated the previous estimates in the eastern Arctic had undercounted, with a new estimate of 14,400 animals (range 4,800–43,000). These larger numbers correspond to prewhaling estimates, indicating the population has fully recovered. However, if climate change substantially shrinks sea ice, these whales could be threatened by increased shipping traffic. The status of other populations is less well known. About 1,200 were off West Greenland in 2006, while the Svalbard population may only number in the tens. However, the numbers have been increasing in recent years.
Bowhead whale | Baffin Bay and Davis Strait
It is thought this radiation was caused by global climate change and major tectonic activity when Antarctica and Australia separated from each other, creating the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Balaenopterids grew bigger during this time, with species like "Balaenoptera sibbaldina" perhaps rivaling the blue whale in terms of size, though other studies disagree that any baleen whale grew that large in the Miocene. The increase in size is likely due to shifts in climate that have resulted in seasonally shifting accumulations of plankton in various parts of the world, necessitating more efficiency traveling over long distances between widely distributed prey sources which also resulted in a lower metabolic rate, and feeding on baitballs.
Baleen whale | Evolutionary history
The blue whale is the largest known animal. In the International Whaling Commission (IWC) whaling database, 88 individuals longer than 30 m were reported, including one up to 33.0 m, but problems with how the measurements were made suggest that measurements longer than 30.5 m are somewhat suspect. The Discovery Committee reported lengths up to 102 ft (31.1 m); however, the longest scientifically measured (e.g., from rostrum tip to tail notch) individual blue whale was 98 ft (29.9 m). Female blue whales are larger than males. Hydrodynamic models suggest that a blue whale could not exceed 108 ft (33 m) due to metabolic and energy constraints.
Blue whale | Size
Factors limiting or threatening current population levels include ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and changes in sea-ice coverage associated with climate change.
Gray whale | Prewhaling abundance
The Blue whale skeleton "Ms. Blue" is one of the largest blue whale skeletons displayed in the world and is one of four blue whale skeletons displayed in North America. The whale is tall and long, and was not fully grown when she washed ashore at Fiddlers Cove near Pescadero on September 6, 1979. Shortly after discovery, biologists and students from UC Santa Cruz began "flensing" (removing flesh and blubber) from the whale, with the whole process taking about a month to complete. Transported by helicopter and truck to the marine lab, the skeleton lay in a grassy field just downwind of lab buildings for over a year before being buried.
UC Santa Cruz Coastal Science Campus | The blue whale skeleton
A past ban which was implemented around the 1960s has helped some of these species of whale to recover. According to IUCN's Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG), "Several populations of southern right whales, humpbacks in many areas, grey whales in the eastern North Pacific, and blue whales in both the eastern North Pacific and central North Atlantic have begun to show signs of recovery." Populations of many other whales species are also increasing. Other whale species, however (in particular the common minke whale) have never been considered endangered. Despite this, opponents of whaling argue that a return to full-scale commercial whaling will lead to economic concerns overriding those of conservation, and there is a continuing debate as to how to describe the current state of each species.
Whale conservation | Conservation status
According to the Government of Canada's Management Plan for gray whales, threats to the eastern North Pacific population of gray whales include: increased human activities in their breeding lagoons in Mexico, climate change, acute noise, toxic spills, aboriginal whaling, entanglement with fishing gear, boat collisions, and possible impacts from fossil fuel exploration and extraction. Western gray whales are facing, the large-scale offshore oil and gas development programs near their summer feeding ground, as well as fatal net entrapments off Japan during migration, which pose significant threats to the future survival of the population. The substantial nearshore industrialization and shipping congestion throughout the migratory corridors of the western gray whale population represent potential threats by increasing the likelihood of exposure to ship strikes, chemical pollution, and general disturbance.
Gray whale | Threats
The blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus") is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whale suborder Mysticeti. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and weight of 173 tonnes (190 tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale’s long and slender body can be various shades of grayish-blue dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. There are currently five subspecies of blue whale, recognized by the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s Committee on Taxonomy: "B. m. musculus" in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, "B. m. intermedia" in the Southern Ocean, "B. m. brevicauda" (the pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, "B.
Blue whale | Introduction
They can determine when and where an individual whale has travelled throughout its lifetime, and monitor whale population demographics, reproductive efforts, mortality, behavior, migration patterns and occurrence rates of human-caused scarring. Results gathered from this research can then be used to discover species-wide problems and implement recovery strategies, such as the Bay of Fundy Traffic Separation Scheme, enforced in 2003.
Moira Brown | Photo Identification Catalogue
In 1949–1952 more than 2,000 humpbacks per year were harvested in the Antarctic, despite an annual quota of 1,250. In 1959–1964, there were disagreements over a moratorium on blue whales and humpbacks, with scientific advice eventually recommending a limit of 2,800 blue whale units. The IWC adopted quotas of 8,000. In 1970 the United States prohibited import of whale products by adding all commercial whales to its Endangered Species List.
History of whaling | Twentieth century
Historic whaling is the reason North Pacific right whales are so endangered today. The two critical periods of whaling were 1839 to 1849 (pelagic whaling, 90% American ships) and 1963 to 1968 (illegal Soviet whaling). The illegal Soviet whaling in the 1960s killed 514 right whales in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska to plus 136 right whales in the Sea Okhotsk and the Kuril Islands. Although whaling was the principal threat to North Pacific right whales, there is no record of whalers targeting this species since the 1980s. Accordingly, this threat appears minor at this time.
North Pacific right whale | Whaling
In July of 2020, the Israeli Child Online Protection Bureau had announced they are collaborating with TikTok to "eradicate the Blue Whale phenomenon".
Blue Whale Challenge | Israel
“Southern Right Whale Project/Chile”, a project that has been conducted since 2003 with the official support of the Chilean Navy and the cooperation of leading right whale conservation organizations from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. In 2008 the southeast Pacific population of this species was classified as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Chilean Navy granted maximum level of protection to the species.
Cetacean Conservation Center | History
Prior to the setting up of the IWC in 1946, unregulated whaling had depleted a number of whale populations to a significant extent, and several whales species were severely endangered. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) notes that the Atlantic population of gray whales was made extinct around the turn of the eighteenth century. Examination of remains found in England and Sweden found evidence of a separate Atlantic population of gray whales existing up until 1675. Radiocarbon dating of subfossil remains has confirmed this, with whaling the possible cause. Whaling and other threats have led to at least five of the 13 great whales being listed as endangered.
Whale conservation | Conservation status
The NOAA recorded 88 stranded humpback whales between January 2016 and February 2019. This is more than double the number of whales stranded between 2013 and 2016. Because of the increase in stranded whales NOAA declared an unusual mortality event in April 2017. This declaration still stands. Virginia Beach aquarium's stranding response coordinator, Alexander Costidis says the conclusions are that the two causes of these unusual mortality events are vessel interactions and entanglements.
Humpback whale | Threats
Members of Balaenidae can live over 70 years and were hunted extensively in the late 1800s for their blubber. Approximately 40% of right whales body mass is blubber and thus were known as the "right" whale to kill. After death, the large blubber deposits caused right whales to float to the surface, which facilitated an easier oil harvest. With population estimated between 300 -350, the North Atlantic right whale is the most critically endangered great whale. The Northern Pacific right whale is also endangered with only about 500 individuals extant. The Southern right whale (~7500 individuals in 1997) and the Bowhead whale (20,000 to 40,000) have made stronger recoveries since whale hunting was significantly curtailed by international agreement.
Balaenidae | Exploitation and conservation status
For Antarctic blue whales, for example, some remain year-round in the Antarctic, some remain year-round in northerly grounds, and most disperse throughout the Southern Hemisphere in the austral winter months.
Blue whale | Migration
In adopting a Recovery Plan for the North Pacific right whale, the United States government (NOAA) described its evaluation of the various threats to the continued survival of the species.
North Pacific right whale | Threats
Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have been unable to identify the species of the whale. They speculate that it could be malformed or a blue whale hybrid. The research team has been contacted by deaf people who believe the whale may be deaf.
52-hertz whale | Characteristics
Northern subspecies ("B. m. musculus") – Western and Central North Pacific population: Little is known about the migration of this population. In the summer, this population migrates to their feeding grounds southwest of Kamchatka, south of the Aleutian Islands, to the Gulf of Alaska, and to waters off Vancouver Island, Canada. In the winter, they migrate to low-latitude waters, including Hawaii. Acoustic data suggests that some individuals may remain on their feeding grounds year-round. Northern subspecies ("B. m. musculus") – North Atlantic population: Little is known about the winter distribution and migration patterns of this population in the North Atlantic.
Blue whale | Pathways and timing
There remain only much smaller concentrations in the Eastern North Pacific (1,647), Central North Pacific (63–133), North Atlantic (1,000–2,000), Antarctic (2,280), New Zealand (718), Northern Indian Ocean (270) and Chile (570-760).
Blue whale | Introduction
In May 2017, Tencent, China's largest Internet service portal, closed 12 suspicious Blue Whale-related network groups on its social networking platform QQ. It said that the number of this kind of groups is on the rise. The search results of related keywords was also blocked in QQ.
Blue Whale Challenge | China
The mechanism behind modern whale migration is debated. Migration may function to reduce parasitism, pathogens, and competition, provide greater access to prey in the spring and summer, reduce calf predation from orcas, and optimize thermoregulation for growth in the winter. For many baleen whales, such as humpback and grey whales, a general migration pattern can be defined as to-and-fro migration between feeding grounds at higher latitudes and breeding habitats at lower latitudes on an annual basis. However, blue whales are not as specific in their movement patterns, and there is substantial evidence of alternative strategies, such as year-round residency, partial or differential migration, and anomalous habits such as feeding on breeding grounds.
Blue whale | Migration
This led to a permanent research program being set up, which is now the longest continuously running study on baleen whales (the program entered its 44th year in 2013). Since 1996 the program has been run in conjunction with the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas.
Ocean Alliance | Accomplishments
Blue whales were nearly hunted to extinction in the 19th and 20th centuries by commercial whalers until the International Whaling Commission banned the taking of blue whales in 1967. The International Whaling Commission catch database estimates that 382,595 blue whales were caught between 1868 and 1978, including 7,973 in the North Pacific (2.09%), 10,442 in the North Atlantic (2.73%), 5,383 in the South Pacific (1.41%), and in the Southern Ocean, 13,022 pygmy blue whales (3.40%) and 345,775 Antarctic blue whales (90.40%). The Soviet Union continued to illegally hunt blue whales in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere through to 1973, and Spanish vessels caught occasional blue whales up until 1978.
Blue whale | Globally
Using the number of earwax lamina deposited in the earplug and development of sexual organs from dead whales, it has been determined blue whales reach sexual maturity at about 10 years old and at an average length of 23.5 m for female Antarctic blue whales. Another method for determining age at sexual maturity, involves measurements of testosterone from the baleen of male blue whales. Testosterone concentrations measured from baleen suggest that the age at sexual maturity for one blue whale was 9 years. Male pygmy blue whales averaged 61.4 ft (18.7 m) at sexual maturity. Female pygmy blue whales are 68.9–71.2 ft (21.0–21.7 m) in length and roughly 10 years old at age of sexual maturity.
Blue whale | Reproduction and birth
The Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Centre in Canada has introduced high-resolution genetic profiling for North Atlantic right whale study. Researchers study the declining population of the endangered North Atlantic right whale through both historical and contemporary analysis. Brown is a member of a team of researchers who are trying to find out why the number of right whales population has so drastically declined. One theory was that Basque whaling in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence led to the demise. At Red Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1978, during an investigation of whaling centres of the Strait of Belle Isle (Gulf of St.
Moira Brown | Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Centre
The charge was exploded by a lanyard and a friction primer attached to the charge, sinking the scow. Following the failed trial in 1872, "Intelligent Whale" was put on display at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and remained there until 1968 when she was moved to the Washington Navy Yard where she remained until being relocated to the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey in Sea Girt, New Jersey, where she is currently on display.
Intelligent Whale | History
Prior to 2008, the beluga was listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a higher level of concern. The IUCN cited the stability of the largest sub-populations and improved census methods that indicate a larger population than previously estimated. In 2008, the beluga was reclassified as "near threatened" by the IUCN due to uncertainty about threats to their numbers and the number of belugas over parts of its range (especially the Russian Arctic), and the expectation that if current conservation efforts cease, especially hunting management, the beluga population is likely to qualify for "threatened" status within five years.
Beluga whale | Conservation status
The major threats to this very small community have been listed as:
Southern resident killer whales | Threats
Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act and Canada's Species at Risk Act. There are about 400 individuals in existence in the western North Atlantic Ocean—they migrate between feeding grounds in the Labrador Sea and their winter calving areas off Georgia and Florida, an ocean area with heavy shipping traffic. In the eastern North Atlantic, on the other hand—with a total population reaching into the low teens at most—scientists believe that they may already be functionally extinct. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fixed fishing gear, which together account for nearly half of all North Atlantic right whale mortality since 1970, are their two greatest threats to recovery.
North Atlantic right whale | Introduction
This species is widespread and abundant in its restricted area, but its likely to become vulnerable in the near future due to water use, global warming and dryness.
Cretan bluet | Threats
The museum's signature piece is its 25-metre skeleton of a female blue whale. The skeleton, housed in the museum's glass atrium, is Canada's largest blue whale skeleton, the "largest skeleton exhibit in the world suspended without external framework for support", and one of only 21 blue whale skeletons on public display worldwide. The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa began exhibiting its juvenile blue whale skeleton at around the same time. The process of recovering, transporting and displaying the whale was featured in a Discovery Channel documentary called "Raising Big Blue", first aired in Canada on June 5, 2011. This documentary is frequently screened at the museum's theatre.
Beaty Biodiversity Museum | Blue Whale Exhibit
The Southern right whale was hunted to near extinction in the mid-to-late 20th century, with only a small (unknown) population around Antarctica. Because of international protection, the Southern right whale's population has been growing 7% annually since 1970. Conversely, the eastern stock of North Atlantic right whale was extirpated from much of its former range, which stretched from the coast of North Africa to the North Sea and Iceland; it is thought that the entire stock consists of only ten individuals, making the eastern stock functionally extinct. Baleen whales continue to be harvested. Only three nations take whales: Iceland, Norway, and Japan.
Baleen whale | Conservation and management issues
Pygmy blue whales were estimated to give birth every 2.6 years (95% CI=2.2–3.0). Pregnant females gain roughly 4% of their body weight daily, amounting to 60% of their overall body weight throughout summer foraging periods. Gestation lasts 10–11 months. No records of natural births are known, although a blue whale that ended up in Trincomalee harbor gave birth to a calf before being towed back to sea the following day.
Blue whale | Reproduction and birth
Over in the corner, a life-sized blue whale head and an oversized sea turtle represent r/K selection theory. This cycle of risk and benefit hinders even human childbirth. Larger brains give humans a clear advantage, but complicate biophysical matters with an enlarged braincase.
Natural History Museum of Bern | 
For the Blue whale it is a breeding ground.
Taranaki Basin | Overview
As of 2013, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognizes 15 mysticete species. One species—the North Atlantic right whale—is endangered with only around 400(±50) individuals left, and four more are also classified as endangered (North Pacific right whale, the blue whale, the fin whale, and the Sei whale), and another 5 ranked as Data deficient (Bryde's whale, Eden's whale, Omura's whale, Southern minke whale, and pygmy right whale). Species that live in polar habitats are vulnerable to the effects of ongoing climate change, particularly declines in sea ice, as well as ocean acidification. The whale-watching industry and anti-whaling advocates argue that whaling catches "friendly" whales that are curious about boats, as these whales are the easiest to catch.
Baleen whale | Conservation and management issues
Although socioeconomic costs and benefits were considered in their decision to upgrade their status, according to the University of British Columbia's Marine Mammal Research Consortium's research director, the decision was based on biology, not politics.
Humpback whale | Canada
The global blue whale population abundance is estimated to be 10,000–25,000 blue whales, roughly 3–11% of the population size estimated in 1911. Recovery and current population sizes vary regionally and by subspecies. North Pacific ("B. m. musculus") The reported take of all North Pacific blue whales by commercial whalers totaled 9,773 between 1905 and 1977.
Blue whale | Globally
Captives have reduced life expectancy, on average only living into their 20s, although some live longer, including several over 30 years old and two, Corky II and Lolita, in their mid-40s. In the wild, females who survive infancy live 46 years on average and up to 70–80 years. Wild males who survive infancy live 31 years on average and can reach 50–60 years.
Cetacea | Killer whales
For comparison, a population of 20,000 or more animals is comparable to the current and presumably early 19th century population of Gray whales in the North Pacific
North Pacific right whale | Historic population
North Atlantic right whales are considered to be the most critically endangered mammals, with the populations continuously declining. Large whales have low rates of reproduction, in turn, creating low recovery rates. The life expectancy for a right whale is 60 years. In order for populations to grow, projections for the species show that a female would be required to give birth to an average of four calves in her lifetime. In most cases, half of the calves born are males, therefore, the survival rate of the remaining two females are given half the chance of survival. Anthropogenic activities are proving to be the lead cause of the North Atlantic right whales' inability to recover from population decline.
Removal of Sunset Provision for vessel restrictions | Science-based Marine Policy Decision
"Blue Whale" (), also known as the "Blue Whale Challenge", is a social network phenomenon dating from 2016 that is claimed to exist in several countries. It is a "game" reportedly consisting of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators over a 50-day period, initially innocuous before introducing elements of self-harm and the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide. "Blue Whale" first attracted news coverage in May 2016 in an article in Russian newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" that linked many unrelated child suicides to membership of group "F57" on the Russian-based VK social network. A wave of moral panic swept Russia.
Blue Whale Challenge | Introduction
The Supreme Court asked the Indian Central government to ban the game, following which the government responded that since Blue Whale wasn't an application, it couldn't be banned. Finally in January 2018, after a full investigation the government reported there was no evidence that any death was as a result of Blue Whale saying “The committee analysed the internet activities, device activities, call records and other social media activity, other forensic evidences and also interacted with rescued victims associated with these incidents. Involvement of Blue Whale challenge game in any of these incidents could not be established.”
Blue Whale Challenge | India
On September 8, 2007, five members of the Makah tribe shot a gray whale using high-powered rifles in spite of the decision. The whale died within 12 hours, sinking while heading out to sea.
Gray whale | Conservation
It was also discovered that some of the vertebrae were badly damaged in the collision. The museum borrowed sample vertebrae from Harvard University and made fiberglass casts that were then painted to replicate the appearance of the original bones. Blue whale bones are extremely oily, and while the skeleton was being prepared, the oil caused the bones to turn yellow and smell unpleasant. In order to account for this, the bones were soaked in a biodegradable leather-curing solution. Nevertheless, the skeleton has continued leaking oil, even years after the whale's death. The museum has responded by setting up tubing which collects the oil and deposits it in a beaker, where visitors can view it and learn about whale oil.
KOBO (whale) | Skeleton preparation
Offshore gas and oil development in the Okhotsk Sea within of the primary feeding ground off northeast Sakhalin Island is of particular concern. Activities related to oil and gas exploration, including geophysical seismic surveying, pipelaying and drilling operations, increased vessel traffic, and oil spills, all pose potential threats to western gray whales. Disturbance from underwater industrial noise may displace whales from critical feeding habitat. Physical habitat damage from drilling and dredging operations, combined with possible impacts of oil and chemical spills on benthic prey communities also warrants concern. The western gray whale population is considered to be endangered according to IUCN standards.
Gray whale | Threats
The largest of these, the blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus"), grows to long weighing 84 tonnes. Many of these species are migratory, and travel to tropical waters during the Antarctic winter. Orcas, which do not migrate, nonetheless regularly travel to warmer waters, possibly to relieve the stress the temperature has on their skin.
Wildlife of Antarctica | Mammals
The longest reliably measured were a male of and a female of , both landed in Alaska. On average, female bowheads are larger than males. Analysis of hundreds of DNA samples from living whales and from baleen used in vessels, toys, and housing material has shown that Arctic bowhead whales have lost a significant portion of their genetic diversity in the past 500 years. Bowheads originally crossed ice-covered inlets and straits to exchange genes between Atlantic and Pacific populations. This conclusion was derived from analyzing maternal lineage using mitochondrial DNA. Whaling and climatic cooling during the Little Ice Age, from the 16th century to the 19th, is supposed to have reduced the whales' summer habitats, which explains the loss of genetic diversity.
Bowhead whale | Description
The Indian Ocean whale sanctuary takes up all of the Indian Ocean south of 55°S. The IWC is a voluntary organization, with no treaty. Any nation may leave as they wish; the IWC cannot enforce any law it makes. As of 2013, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognized 86 cetacean species, 40 of which are considered whales. As of 2018, six are considered at risk, as they are ranked "Endangered" (blue whale, North Atlantic right whale, North Pacific right whale, and sei whale), and "Vulnerable" (fin whale and sperm whale). Twenty-one species have a "Data Deficient" ranking.
Whale | Conservation
The last gray whale, J.J., beached itself in Marina del Rey, California, where it was rushed to SeaWorld San Diego and, after 14 months, was released because it got too big to take care of. Reaching and , J.J. was the largest creature to be kept in captivity. The Mito Aquarium in Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan, housed three minke whales in the nearby bay enclosed by nets. One survived for three months, another (a calf) survived for two weeks, and another was kept for over a month before breaking through the nets.
Baleen whale | In captivity
The population remaining is estimated to be between 100-200. In recent years, increases in numbers of migrating baleen whales are confirmed long after the end of hunting era. These are humpback whales, southern blue whales, pygmy blue whales, and southern minke whales. Less frequently, fin whales and sei whales are seen as well. For southern right whales, these whales will possibly become seasonal residents in the gulf as the populations recover (one of two of the first confirmed birth records on New Zealand's main islands since after commercial and illegal whalings were recorded at around Milford and Browns Bay in 2012).
Hauraki Gulf | Species
This mammal is descended from filter-feeding whales that appeared at the beginning of the Oligocene, over 30 million years ago. The gray whale is distributed in an eastern North Pacific (North American), and an endangered western North Pacific (Asian), population. North Atlantic populations were extirpated (perhaps by whaling) on the European coast before AD 500, and on the American coast around the late 17th to early 18th centuries. Even so, on May 8, 2010, a sighting of a gray whale was confirmed off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea, leading some scientists to think they might be repopulating old breeding grounds that have not been visited for centuries.
Gray whale | Introduction
It was calculated that preventing the deaths of just two females per year would enable the population to stabilize. The data suggests, therefore, that human sources of mortality may have a greater effect relative to population growth rates of North Atlantic right whales than for other whales. The principal factors known to be retarding growth and recovery of the population are ship strikes and entanglement with fishing gear.
North Atlantic right whale | Threats
Animal-rights activist groups, such as the Greenpeace, object to Japan's scientific whaling, with some calling it a substitute for commercial whaling. In 2014, the International Court of Justice (the UN judicial branch) banned the taking of whales for any purpose in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary; however, Japan refuses to stop whaling and has only promised to cut their annual catches by a third (around 300 whales per year). Baleen whales can also be affected by humans in more indirect ways. For species like the North Atlantic right whale, which migrates through some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, the biggest threat is from being struck by ships.
Baleen whale | Conservation and management issues
Blue whales stop producing foraging D calls once a mid-frequency sonar is activated, even though the sonar frequency range (1–8 kHz) far exceeds their sound production range (25–100 Hz). Poisoning from toxic substances such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is generally low because of their low trophic level. Some baleen whales can become victims of bycatch, which is especially serious for North Atlantic right whales considering its small number. Right whales feed with a wide-open mouth, risking entanglement in any rope or net fixed in the water column. Rope wraps around their upper jaw, flippers and tail. Some are able to escape, but others remain entangled.
Baleen whale | Conservation and management issues
The museum is home to five fully articulated whale skeletons: a blue whale, a humpback whale, a sperm whale, and a pregnant mother and fetus North Atlantic right whale. All of the specimens came from animals that either died accidentally or by undetermined circumstances, and were not killed as a result of whaling. The first skeleton to be acquired was a three-year-old male humpback whale named Quasimodo, which died in 1932. The blue whale is a juvenile male named KOBO. The sperm whale is a 30-year-old male. The right whales include a 15-year-old female named Reyna that was ten months pregnant and her fetus.
New Bedford Whaling Museum | Skeletons of the Deep
In 2015, with funding from the Methuselah Foundation and Life Extension Foundation, the bowhead whale genome was sequenced by João Pedro de Magalhães and his team at the University of Liverpool. The bowhead whale is possibly the longest-lived mammal, capable of living over 200 years. The genome project was undertaken to learn more about the mammal's mechanisms for longevity and resistance to age-related diseases, which are unknown. An assembly of the bowhead whale genome has been made available online to promote further research.
Methuselah Foundation | Bowhead Whale Genome
Vincent and the Grenadines each year. Several species that were commercially exploited have rebounded in numbers; for example, grey whales may be as numerous as they were prior to harvesting, but the North Atlantic population is functionally extinct. Conversely, the North Atlantic right whale was extirpated from much of its former range, which stretched across the North Atlantic, and only remains in small fragments along the coast of Canada, Greenland, and is considered functionally extinct along the European coastline. The IWC has designated two whale sanctuaries: the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, and the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Southern Ocean whale sanctuary spans and envelopes Antarctica.
Whale | Conservation
Marine life ranges from microscopic plankton to the endangered blue whale, the largest animal on earth. Archeological and cultural resources span a period of more than 10,000 years.
Channel Islands National Park | Flora and fauna
Research on the closely related bowhead whale exceeding 210 years or more suggests this lifespan is not uncommon and may even be exceeded.
Right whale | Lifespan
Today, the number of sightings elsewhereis very small, but with increasing regularities with whales having strong regional connections. Whales have also started approaching townships and inhabited areas such as around Longyearbyen. The waters around the marine mammal sanctuary of Franz Josef Land is possibly functioning as the most important habitat for this population. Current status of population structure of this stock is unclear, whether they are remnant of the historic Svalbard group, recolonized individuals from other stocks, or if a mixing of these two or more stocks had taken place. In 2015, discoveries of the refuge along eastern Greenland where whaling ships could not reach due to ice floes and largest numbers of whales (80–100 individuals) ever sighted between Spitsbergen and Greenland indicate that more whales than previously considered survived whaling periods, and flows from the other populations are possible.
Bowhead whale | Svalbard-Barents Sea
The series took almost five years to make, involving nearly 200 filming locations. The fact that most of the ocean environment remains a mystery presented the production team with many challenges. Besides witnessing some animal behaviours for the first time, the crew also observed some that were new to science. The producers were helped by marine scientists all over the world with state-of-the-art equipment. Blue whales — whose migration routes were previously unknown — were located by air, after some of the animals had been given temporary radio tags. The camera team spent three years on standby, using a microlight to land on the water nearby when they finally caught up with the creatures in the Gulf of California.
The Blue Planet | Background
Predicted distribution models indicate that overall range in the last glacial period was broader or more southerly distributed, and inhabitations in waters where species presences lack in present situation, such as in southern hemisphere and south Asian waters and northern Indian Ocean were possible due to feasibility of the environment on those days. Range expansions due to recoveries and re-colonization in the future is likely to be happen and the predicted range covers wider than that of today. The gray whale undergoes the longest migration of any mammal.
Gray whale | Migration
If observers notice, they can be successfully disentangled, but others die over a period of months. Other whales, such as humpback whales, can also be entangled.
Baleen whale | Conservation and management issues
The US and Brazil added new protections for right whales in the 2000s to address the two primary hazards. While environmental campaigners were, as reported in 2001, pleased about the plan's positive effects, they attempted to force the US government to do more. In particular, they advocated speed limits for ships within of US ports in times of high right whale presence. Citing concerns about excessive trade disruption, it did not institute greater protections. The Defenders of Wildlife, the Humane Society of the United States and the Ocean Conservancy sued the NMFS in September 2005 for "failing to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, which the agency acknowledges is 'the rarest of all large whale species' and which federal agencies are required to protect by both the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act", demanding emergency protection measures.
Right whale | Conservation
The bowhead whale is the only baleen whale to spend its entire life in the Arctic and subarctic waters. The Alaskan population spends the winter months in the southwestern Bering Sea. The group migrates northward in the spring, following openings in the ice, into the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The whale's range varies depending on climate changes and on the forming/melting of ice. Historical range could have been broader and more southern than that of currently regarded as bowheads had been abundant among Labrador and Newfoundland (Strait of Belle Isle), and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence at least until 16th and 17th centuries, although whether or not this was due to colder climate of those periods is unclear.
Bowhead whale | Range and habitat
On May 21, 2017, it was announced that the Brazilian police Specialized in High Technology Crime Repression in Piauí were preparing a digital primer to warn young people about the dangers of the game.
Blue Whale Challenge | Brazil
Dr. Dave Casper, UC Santa Cruz veterinarian, re-created the 60 lost bones by creating molds from bones loaned by other institutions, or by using similar structures in the existing skeleton. The flipper bones, originally pinned close to the body, are now deployed away from the ribs in a swimming position.
UC Santa Cruz Coastal Science Campus | The blue whale skeleton
These rulings were made despite the extremely low numbers (as low as 313 by some estimates) of right whales in existence at this time, and a very poor calving season.
Right whale | Threats
Point Blue's top priorities are to understand and project the effects of climate change and other environmental stressors on nature and wildlife in order to benefit birds, other wildlife and people. In collaboration with Conserve.IO (EarthNC), Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, Point Blue has developed the “Whale Aware” program, a new system for gathering near-real-time data on where whales are congregating so marine management agencies can alert ship operators and help prevent collisions with endangered whales in the San Francisco and Channel Islands regions.
Point Blue Conservation Science | Initiatives
Organizations such as World Animal Protection and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation campaign against the practice of keeping cetaceans, particularly killer whales, in captivity. In captivity, they often develop pathologies, such as the dorsal fin collapse seen in 60–90% of male killer whales. Captives have vastly reduced life expectancies, on average only living into their 20s. In the wild, females who survive infancy live 46 years on average, and up to 70–80 years in rare cases. Wild males who survive infancy live 31 years on average, and up to 50–60 years. Captivity usually bears little resemblance to wild habitat, and captive whales' social groups are foreign to those found in the wild.
Marine mammal | Aquariums
After 14 months, she was released because she also grew too large to be cared for in the existing facilities. At and when she was released, J.J. was the largest marine mammal ever to be kept in captivity.
Gray whale | Captivity
Species that live in polar habitats are vulnerable to the effects of recent and ongoing climate change, particularly the time when pack ice forms and melts.
Whale | Conservation
Other threats include ingestion of marine debris, ocean noise, and chemical pollution. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) regards the sperm whale as being "vulnerable". The species is listed as endangered on the United States Endangered Species Act. Sperm whales are listed on Appendix I and Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on Appendix I as this species has been categorized as being in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant proportion of their range and CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.
Sperm whale | Current conservation status
The Inuit have a word for this behavior to give historical context that this is not a new phenomenon. Global warming is increasing the frequency that killer whales are observed in the far north. A once-rare event, killer whales are now seen more frequently. There are no reports of attacks on bowheads by sharks.
Bowhead whale | Predation
In September 2017, the Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology posted a message in his official Instagram account to warn parents and teachers about the spread of the Blue Whale challenge among Iranian teens.
Blue Whale Challenge | Iran
There has been concern that the conflict between those who seek renewed utilisation of whales and those who seek protection for every whale has placed a dangerous strain on the IWC. Oran Young and eight other noted scholars in the field assert that "changes in the current [IWC] arrangements are inevitable" and that "the killing of whales for human consumption will continue, whether whalers operate within a reconstructed international whaling regime, opt to join alternative arrangements like NAMMCO, or seek to establish a hybrid system". The BBC also reports that "[c]onservationists argue that the IWC should be devoting far more of its attention to issues such as whales being hit by ships, the effects of pollution and climate change, and the pressures that drive species such as the baiji (or Yangtse river dolphin) to extinction.
International Whaling Commission | Politics