What is the most endangered great whale?
According to authorities at the Stellwagen Bank Information Center, the northern right whale is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. Biologists estimate that 80,000 of these whales once roamed the oceans. But the whales’ slow speed and their large stores of blubber and oil (which made them float after they were killed) made them the preferred prey of whaling captains. The name, right whale, was inspired by the fact that they were the “right” whale to catch. Whalers slashed their numbers from tens of thousands to about 50 before they were finally protected by international treaty in 1935. After more than 50 years of protection of right whales, biologists estimate that there are still only about 300 northern right whales. The National Marine Fisheries Service states that to avoid extinction, only four right whales per decade can die from other than natural causes. Today, collisions with ships are the leading cause of death of the slow-moving right whales. Since 1970, 14 of 40
