Northern Right Whale

Lore & Background

A common explanation for the name right whales is that they were regarded as the right ones to hunt, as they float when killed and often swim within sight of shore. They are quite docile and do not tend to shy away from approaching boats. As a result, they were hunted nearly to extinction during the active years of the whaling industry. However, this origin is questionable. The generic name Eubalaena means 'good or true whales', and specific names include glacialis ('ice') for North Atlantic species, australis ('southern') for Southern Hemisphere species, and japonica ('Japanese') for North Pacific species.

In Their Own Story

The water off the coast of Nova Scotia was a deep, brooding indigo, broken only by the rhythmic exhalation of a mother and her calf. They moved with a deliberate slowness that felt ancient against the modern hum of distant shipping lanes. The mother's head broke the surface first, revealing the jagged, white landscape of her callosities, a map of survival etched in keratin. She paused, blowing a misty column into the crisp air, her eye dark and unblinking, scanning for threats that were no longer harpoons but steel propellers. The calf stayed close, its skin smoother, unmarked by the battles of life, mimicking the slow roll of its mother. For a moment, time seemed to suspend itself in the gray light; two giants drifting through their own private ocean, unaware that they were being counted by silent observers from above, fighting for a future where such a quiet presence could still exist.

Reader's Guide

All three species are migratory, moving seasonally to feed or give birth. The warm equatorial waters form a barrier that isolates the northern and southern species from one another although the southern species, at least, has been known to cross the equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, right whales tend to avoid open waters and stay close to peninsulas and bays and on continental shelves. In the Southern Hemisphere, right whales feed far offshore in summer, but a large portion of the population occur in near-shore waters in winter. Right whales feed mainly on copepods but also consume krill and pteropods. They may forage the surface, underwater or even the ocean bottom. During courtship, males gather into large groups to compete for a single female. Gestation tends to last a year, and calves are weaned at eight months old.

Did You Know?

• Right whales were a preferred target for whalers because of their docile nature, their slow surface-skimming feeding behaviors, their tendency to stay close to the coast, and their high blubber content.
• The two leading causes of death for right whales today are being struck by ships and entanglement in fishing gear.
• The North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales are among the most endangered whales in the world.
• Whale lice, parasitic cyamid crustaceans, live off skin debris on right whales and their genetics helped determine that the three right whale species split 5–6 million years ago.