Why did people want whale blubber?
Oil produced from blubber was used in lamps and as a lubricant. Blubber contains over 60% oils, and was used in the manufacture of margarine, lard and shortening. What does a right whale look like? Northern right whales are black with variable gray patches on their throats and bellies. Large amounts of blubber give the right whale a particularly rotund appearance.They have large heads (more than one quarter of the body length), a narrow upper jaw and a curved lower jaw. The right whale has no dorsal fin, has extremely long baleen plates in its arched upper jaw (about 7 feet long), and reaches a length of about 60 feet. Right whales have tough white patches of skin on their heads called callosites. How much does a right whale weigh? Adult whales which average 12-16.5 meters (40-55 feet), can weigh up to 63.5 metric tons (139,700 pounds). What are callosites? A striking feature of the right whale is its pattern of callosities, which are patches of thickened skin often covered by whale li
