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Endangered Species Day

May 18, 2018

Today is Endangered Species Day, and among the most endangered animals are North Atlantic right whales. Fewer than 450 remain. Above, WHOI biologist Michael Moore (red jacket) and David Taylor, a WHOI guest investigator, prepare to perform a necropsy on a right whale named Stumpy, who washed ashore in 2004 in North Carolina. Stumpy, who was pregnant, was struck by a ship. (Her skeleton and fetus are on display at the North Carolina Museum of Sciences.) Using bones from Stumpy, researchers determined the force necessary to break whale bones, which helped design speed limits for ships. They also have documented evidence of whales dying because of entanglement in fishing lines and advocated whale-safe fishing gear to help conserve the whales. (Photo by Regina Campbell-Malone, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)