Throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, when whale oil and baleen were used for many items such as corsets and horse whips, right whales were hunted almost to extinction. They have the most oil, blubber, and baleen out of any whale, which makes them float after they are dead, making it easy for hunters to gather them. There are only about 350 right whales left in the oceans today and they mainly reside in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. They feed on krill, which is a small shrip-like organism no larger than the head of a pin. Right Whales can eat up to 2,500 pounds of krill in one day.
It is hard for the right whale to re-populize because females become sexually mature after they are ten years old and can only have one calf. The pregnancy lasts for about one year. These whales are easy to spot because they are the only whales that have callosities (barnacle looking growths) on their enormous heads. Their heads can be up to one-third of the 50-foot long body.
sources: nationalgeographic.com, oceanconservancy.org
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