Southern Right Whales Research Paper

Right Whale
One of the rarest mammals the Right Whale faces near extinction. At about 50 feet long they roam through Atlantic or Pacific waters. “Right whales live in temperate and cool seas in both hemispheres at the surface of the ocean. Southern right whales live at latitudes between 20°-55° but will occasionally venture down to 63°.” (Col). Or some species of Right Whale such as the Black Right Whale may live in all of the oceans. They travel very often but swim at a very low speed about 3 miles per hour. If you were to go anywhere from the Southern Ocean surrounding Anartica to the waters above Greenland you would be very likely to find one of these whales. You can never know where they might pop up because of their number and their rarity. So you could also be at a beach in Florida and run into one of these gigantic mammals. They swim in coastal waters closer to the surface. They like to be where there are lots of krill.
Krill are shrimp-like animals that are found throughout the world’s oceans.
These make up most or about all of the Right Whale’s diet. Focusing on their habitat it seems that Southern Right Whales stick close the Florida-Georgia coastline.The Atlantic Right Whales are seen and held closely to the Maine-South Canadian coastline. Where they are found is usually a changing factor because of them being endangered.
There are many reasons on why they’re endangered. One of the main reasons is because they were hunted and some still are hunted at a very large rate. Even their name “Right Whale” signifies on them being hunted. When wailing these were the right whale to kill. “Because females do not become sexually mature until ten years of age and give birth to a single calf after a yearlong pregnancy, populations grow slowly.” (Chadwick 1-7). So yet another reason why they face mass
extinction.
Since ancient times whales were hunted. First they just killed the whales, but at the growth of European whaling more and more of these whales were targeted. During the 1700’s whaling spreaded from Europe to the Americas. First, they would kill the whales keep them on the ship and take them back and use the baleen which were the whales teeth and the blubber to make oil. Another reason why they targeted the right whales so much is because they have very large heads and their blubber is thicker than that of most whales. For it being so thick they would float on top of the water making it easy for them to be caught after being killed. After time they would begin to cook the whales on the ship before taking them to land. Around the time of the Civil War in the 1860’s whaling or specifically hunting for right whales was still a very large industry. The only time it looked up for these whales was during the California Gold Rush. This was when large quantities of gold were found in California. Lots of those people that hunted these whales gave up on that job and moved on to for panning for gold. Although it was a distraction soon after they went back to being hunted. It continued to get worse and worse. Mainly because time was developing and ships were improving as well as hunting techniques. It just paved the way for the deaths of thousands of more Right Whales.
Going into the 1900’s some of these things begin to stop. But all because of this era “Many of larger whales face an uncertain future. Whalers have killed so many blue, bowhead, humpback, and right whales that those species have been threatened with extinction.” ("World Book Encyclopedia" 256-267). There have been laws placed about commercial whaling. Though some people still choose to completely go against these it has stopped somewhat a number of Right Whale killings. For example there are some areas that are “Right Whale Sancturies.” These are places that are kept up and are made for Right Whales to be a part of. Even though there are some that still make efforts to reserve these whales bad news still remains. There are countries that hunt them still on a regular basis. Besides that even there food: krill is starting to be a major industry. It seems that humans are a main threat to these whales. “Every year around three right whales are either injured or killed in collisions with ocean-going vessels like containerized cargo ships even though they are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Right whales frequently wash up on shore bearing deep scars from being struck by ships propellers.” (Doyle).
The U.S still continues to try to preserve the whales, but what they’re doing is obviously not enough. As of now some of the same efforts are in that were in many years ago. In reality larger efforts need to be put into saving these whales. If it wasn’t for humans, human technology, lack of caring, etc. It wouldn’t be so bad for the Right Whale this day. “Even with protection, some species may not be able to recover. For example, the right whale has been fully protected since 1935, but it has not yet made a significant comeback.” (“World Book Encyclopedia” 256-267).
The rise of the human population also threatens the survival of these whales. If the population does not level off, people may have to compete with whales for food in the sea. (“World Book Encyclopedia” 256-267). The right whales aren’t the only whales that suffer mass extinction. Because of the humans many more whales and other animals across the planet suffer the horror of mass extinction. This includes marine animals, land animals, and birds. Hopefully these whales will see a better day, and recover and again roam the seas in large numbers.

Works Cited
Chadwick, Douglas. "Right Whales." October 2008: 1-7. Print.
Col, Jeananda. "RIGHT WHALE." www.EnchantedLearning.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2013. .
Doyle, Leanord. "US plan to protect right whale from shipping blocked by Cheney ." independent.co.uk. N.p., 2 may 2008. Web. 2 Mar 2013. .
The World Book Encyclopedia. Anniversary Edition. 2. Chicago: World Book, Incorporated, 1992. 256-267. Print.