How many whales are there

The British Antarctic Survey reports that the whaling industry killed over , whales over a period of 60 years. In the past, whales were often hunted for their meat, their blubber, their bone and other parts of their bodies.

Fears that many whales would be hunted to extinction led to a global ban on commercial whaling in But some people living in isolated areas of the world, say whaling is crucial for survival, for example in Greenland and the state of Alaska in the USA. And for countries like Japan and Norway, whaling is considered part of their culture - and they still hunt whales for commercial reasons.

Now numbers are growing again, there are some calls for whaling to return. But conservationists say a growing population of whales is not enough of a reason for whaling to return, because whales are very intelligent creatures, and they believe hunting is unnecessary.

Blue whales are still an endangered species and there are thought to be no more than 25, living in the world today. Blue whales: Heartbeat reduces to 2 beats per minute when feeding. How blue whales became so big. Antarctic blue whales tracked by their sounds. What is Remembrance Sunday? However, due to the slow maturation process and the long periods between the birth of young, the populations of this species grow very slowly.

In addition, several factors threaten their populations. Sperm whales were a major objective of the commercial whaling industry from to Whaling greatly reduced this population. Although whaling is no longer a major threat, its population is still recovering. The females only have one calf every 3 or 4 years, so, with a low number of them, it becomes difficult to increase the numbers.

Your gestation period is 16 months. They are very protective of their offspring and work together to ensure that they are well cared for. One or two females submerge to bring food to the younger ones, while the others take care of all of them. The young can not dive deeply due to their need to surface frequently to take air. It is estimated that the historical population all over the world totaled 1.

Currently, there is no accurate accounting of the total number of sperm whales worldwide. The best estimate of the world sperm whale population is between , and , individuals. Ship traffic around the world is increasing. That increases the risk of collisions. Sperm whales spend long periods of time on the surface between deep dives. As a result, it makes them more vulnerable to collisions with ships. Many different types of fishing gear, including trap lines, pots, and gillnets.

These mammals can swim long distances by dragging the attached equipment. That can result in fatigue, compromised eating ability or serious injuries that can lead to death. Underwater noise pollution can interrupt the normal behavior of sperm whales, which depend on sound to communicate. Debris in the deep-scatter layer where sperm whales feed can be confused with prey and incidentally ingested, which could result in injury or death.

Blue whales are among the longest living animals on Earth. Your average life is estimated at around 80 to 90 years.

The gestation period is approximately 10 to 12 months. The average interval of delivery is probably 2 to 3 years. It was estimated that the total world population was between 5, and 12, specimens in It continued with that status until At least 1, blue whales died before the s in the waters of eastern Canada.

In the North Pacific, whaling of this species was prohibited in In the Antarctic region, the most optimistic estimates show a significant annual increase of 7. It appears as an endangered species in the IUCN Red List of endangered species and has been so since the creation of the list.

In the case of the Antarctic subspecies, the larger one, its situation is even worse. It is rated as critically endangered.

The highest known concentration of the species, with about individuals. This is the Northeast Pacific population of the northern blue whale. It is estimated that the total population of the North Atlantic is between and individuals. In the Southern Hemisphere there seem to be two distinct subspecies, the Antarctic blue whale and the little-studied pygmy blue whale. This is found in the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Estimates of a work done in resulted in pygmy whales only in a small area south of Madagascar. If this is true, the global populations would be higher than those given by the initial forecasts. The average life of a gray whale is 30 to 60 years. Gray female whales usually give birth every two or three years, and their pregnancies last twelve months.

According to an investigation in that population is individuals. This species, in critical danger of extinction, has experienced a hopeful recovery thanks to the collaboration of an oil company with scientists and conservationists to minimize the impact of its activity. This western population has had a very slow growth rate despite a strong conservation action over the years. It will probably be due to its very slow reproduction rate.

However, as of , the evidence has indicated that the western population is increasing significantly, especially on the island of Sakhalin. The population has been hunted extensively by commercial and aboriginal whalers, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Commercial whaling ended in , and gray whales were classified as endangered. And in it was estimated that it reached 22, mammals.

The gray whale population of the eastern Pacific was removed from the list of endangered species in This type of whale is an interesting case study because one population is extinct, other is endangered and the other is recovered. Beluga whales can live for 75 years or more. The pregnancy lasts 14 months and the calves breastfeed for 2 years. The females give birth every 2 to 3 years. The population of Beluga whales in danger of entry into Cook Inlet has decreased by almost 75 percent since Baleen whales have baleen plates, or sheets, which sieve prey from seawater.

Toothed whales have teeth and they actively hunt fish, squid and other sea creatures. Another obvious difference between baleen and toothed whales is the number of blowholes on top of their head; baleen whales have two whereas toothed whales have one.

There are only 14 baleen whale species and they are generally larger than the 76 species of toothed whales — except for the mighty sperm whale , the largest toothed whale. Baleen whales are generally huge; the largest is the biggest creature to have ever lived on Earth- the blue whale. Huge volumes of seawater are strained through the baleen plates which sieve and retain little sea creatures in huge quantities.

Right whales and bowheads are skimmers or grazers and gather food by swimming slowly, open-mouthed through dense patches of it. Humpbacks , blue whales and fin whales are gulpers; their throats are expandable and enable them to take enormous mouthfuls of seawater and sieve out their prey; gray whales are bottom feeders and sift prey from mouthfuls of mud on the seabed.

Most baleen whales are migratory and tend to follow the same basic migratory pattern. Some, such as humpbacks and gray whales make very long, seasonal migrations.

Our understanding of why they do this is that they face a dilemma; there is much more whale food available in cold polar oceans but these environments are risky and challenging for vulnerable newborn whales who thrive in warmer seas. The baleen whale solution to this is to feed in cold water feeding areas for as long as possible in the summer months and then swim to warm, calm water nursery areas.

Not all baleen whales migrate; Bryde's whale , the bowhead whale and sei whale are all non-migratory. Baleen whales do not echolocate but they do make sounds to communicate with one another, display and attract mates, repel rivals and establish territories. Different baleen whales use a variety of sounds including singing, moans and short pulses.

Baleen whale group sizes are generally small; they often appear to be alone but are found to be in acoustic contact with others. Large groups of baleen whales are generally uncommon. Baleen whales are grouped into four families: rorqual; right; gray; and pygmy right whale. However, the exact number of species currently 15 and their relationships to one another are still matters of hot debate as scientists are finding what they believe to be new species within species.

This is thought to refer to the long folds of skin in the lower jaw. The right whale and bowhead whale family is made up of three right whale species and the bowhead whale. They are enormous, rotund, stocky whales who can grow up to 20m and weigh 90 tonnes 90,kg.

They have huge heads measuring up to a third of the total length and their backs are smooth with no dorsal fin or ridge. Right whales and bowhead whales are slow swimmers; they skim feed or graze using their impressively long baleen plates to filter food from seawater.

These whales were intensively hunted during the commercial whaling years and are struggling to recover; in fact both the North Atlantic right whale and the North Pacific right whale are endangered and continue to decline in numbers.

Subsistence whaling of bowhead whales is still practised by Alaskan and Greenlandic aboriginal subsistence whalers. The gray whale family only has one member — the gray whale.

Gray whales are the most coastal of all baleen whales as they live in shallow water where they feed on the seafloor. They swim on their sides, close to the seabed and suck muddy sediments into their mouth and sieve out their prey using short, course baleen plates in their mouths. Gray whales grow up to