Right Whales Right Where They Belong

Endangered right whales are right where they're supposed to be — off the southern tip of Greenland.

This discovery, made by researchers from Oregon University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is good news, since the whales had been thought to be extinct in the area. The discovery is also good news for the whales: It may lead to new protections in an area that's likely to open up to shipping as ice sheets melt.

Researchers used a system of underwater hydrophones that can record sounds from hundreds of miles away. Over the course of just a few months, they recorded more than 2,000 right whale vocalizations. While scientists don't know exactly how many whales are in the region, head researcher David Mellinger did say, in an interview published in Science Daily:

The technology has enabled us to identify an important unstudied habitat for endangered right whales and raises the possibility that — contrary to general belief — a remnant of a central or eastern Atlantic stock of right whales still exists and might be viable ... [Right whales] aren't individually distinctive in their vocalizations. But we did hear right whales at three widely space sites on the same day, so the absolute minimum is three. Even that number is significant because the entire population is estimated to be only 300 to 400 whales.

Discovery of these whales will be critically important for their future well-being. Through use of hydrophones and other equipment, ships passing through the newly opening Northwest Passage will be able to avoid collisions with migrating right whales.

Photo of North Atlantic right whale, courtesy of NOAA.