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The hunting of whales on an industrial scale began in the 17th century and into the 20th century, and as a result of the quantities caught many whales became endangered species. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986 to increase the remaining whale population in the seas.
The family Balaenidae, the right whales, contains two genera and four species. All right whales have no ventral grooves; a distinctive head shape with a strongly arched, narrow rostrum, bowed lower jaw; lower lips that enfold the sides and front of the rostrum; and long, narrow, elastic baleen plates (up to nine times longer than wide) with fine baleen fringes.
Despite beluga whales not being threatened overall, sub-populations are being listed as critically endangered and are facing increased mortality from human actions. For example, even though commercial hunting is now banned due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, beluga whales are still being hunted to preserve the livelihood of native Alaskan ...
Improved numbers, but the whales remain endangered. This year, 20 calves were born into the population, eight more than last year. This is an encouraging outcome, and far from the discouraging ...
Other killer whales feed on fish, octopus and marine mammals, but the diet of Southern Resident whales is almost entirely salmon. They are an endangered population, with just 72 orcas in all three ...
The rare and critically endangered right whales typically return to waters off Cape Cod as part of their annual migration along the Atlantic coastline.
Several sightings in the area made in the 1970s may or may not be of right whales, as the critically endangered population of Bowhead whales are also present in the area. For southward migration, the sighting of two whales displaying courtship behaviors in the Bermuda was recorded by a team of researchers including Roger Payne in April, 1970. [79]
Baleen whales can have streamlined or large bodies, depending on the feeding behavior, and two limbs that are modified into flippers. The fin whale is the fastest baleen whale, recorded swimming at 10 m/s (36 km/h; 22 mph). Baleen whales use their baleen plates to filter out food from the water by either lunge-feeding or skim-feeding