How do right whales live?

Right whales feed on zooplankton and other tiny organisms using baleens up to 8 feet long. Southern and the two species of northern right whales live in temperate Atlantic or Pacific waters, often near the coast.

What is the southern right whales habitat?

Distribution. The Southern Right Whale inhabits the southern and sub-antarctic oceans except during the winter breeding season. During this breeding season the whales migrate to warmer temperate waters around the southern parts of the African, South American and Australian land masses.

What makes a right whale right?

These include regulations to maintain a safe distance; vessel speed limits in important areas, like calving grounds; and fishing gear regulations designed to prevent entanglement.

What is unique about right whales?

Right whales are known for their unique v-shaped exhale. Right whales can be visually identified by scientists and casual whale watchers alike by a unique V-shaped exhale as it breathes through its blowhole at the surface of the sea. This helps scientists identify North Pacific right whales during research surveys.

Where do right whales breed?

Seasonal Migrations. Most North Atlantic right whales head south for the winter, to the shallow coastal waters off the southeastern United States. That’s where the females give birth to calves—a single calf every 3-5 years.

What are the adaptations of a right whale?

Natural selection decreased the amount of surface area exposed to the external environment while increasing volume. Right whale adaptations include: a heavy, round body; short, stubby limbs; no dorsal fin; and a thick layer of blubber.

What does a Southern Right Whale look like?

The features of a southern right whale are: dark skin, with irregular white patches on the throat and belly. a round body which tapers to a relatively narrow tail stock. a broad tail, with flukes which form a wide triangle with a notch in the middle.

What does a right whale look like?

Appearance. North Atlantic right whales have stocky black bodies with no dorsal fins, and their blow spouts are shaped like a “V.” Their tails are broad, deeply notched, and all black with a smooth trailing edge. Their bellies may be all black or have irregularly shaped white patches.

What do right whales do?

Right whales are baleen whales, feeding on copepods (tiny crustaceans) by straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates, which act like a sieve. By the early 1890s, commercial whalers had hunted right whales in the Atlantic to the brink of extinction.

Why are right whales important?

Right whales play a number of important ecological roles in the ocean. They help keep the marine ecosystem healthy and productive by redistributing nutrients across the ocean through their fecal matter. After they die, their carcasses sink to the bottom of the ocean where they serve as food for other organisms.

How do right whales mate?

Unlike many mammal species, right whale males do not compete aggressively with other for mating rights to a female. Instead, the competition occurs on a microscopic level, whereby the male with the largest testes (therefore able to produce the most sperm) will successfully pregnant a female.

Why is the North Atlantic right whale Endangered?

Go slow,giving a boater time to react.

What is the habitat of the North Atlantic right whale?

These 336 remaining right whales migrate between feeding grounds in the Labrador Sea and their calving grounds off the coasts of Georgia and Florida. In the eastern North Atlantic, the right whales’ total population is so low, many scientists believe them to be already “ functionally extinct .” Simply put, humans are the problem.

What is the most endangered whale?

‘Committed’ to the initiative. ‘ MSC Cruises is committed to supporting the health of our oceans and working closely with experts in the field to identify and implement meaningful action

Are right whale Endangered?

We don’t pretend to speak for all scientists, but we think the same philosophy should apply to other serious threats to our environment and to endangered species, such as the northern right whale.