California Blue Whale: The Comback KId

Three cheers for the Blue Whale!  Researchers now believe that the California population of Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) has returned to 97% of it’s historical numbers.  Despite being the largest extant animal on planet earth, scientists faced a daunting task calculating the number of individuals belonging to California group from other blue whale populations in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.  In the end, marine biologists distinguished the whales by their patterns of song.

Mother whale and calf swimming off the coast of California. Image Credit: UWNEWS/BBC)

Whales still face the challenges of boat strikes and Arctic blue whale populations are critically diminished.  However, the California Blue Whale shows that their is hope for these giants of the sea.

Read more at the BBC.