Gray whales continue to wash up dead and emaciated, but causes remain elusive.
In a world where mass starves are celebrated as a healthy and environmentally friendly option, there’s this one whale that gets a bad rap (and for good reason).
One hundred and twenty-one thousand years ago, an extraordinary creature walked the planet. First recorded in ancient Egyptian records, the ancient whale is thought to have emerged with modern humans. Its fossilized teeth were in the fossil record between 55 million and 40 million years ago, a time when people were beginning hunting for meat.
In 1828, the whale was rediscovered in Japan. Today, the animals are still here, in the frigid north Pacific. They can be found in the waters that surround Japan and Korea, but also south into the Pacific Basin and into waters in the Arctic.
Most of the whales are found in the North Pacific, but have also been seen in the North Atlantic, North and South Pacific, and Indian. The most common whale in the North Pacific is the Bryde’s whale, which is commonly referred to as simply the whale. The Bryde’s whale’s fossils, as well as its DNA, have been found in the Antarctic.
A whale is one of the most iconic animals on Earth. The sight of a whale’s breaching with a huge “belly” while swimming through the waves is truly spectacular.
But despite being one of the most common animals, we don’t have a lot of information about their habits. In all, more than 100,000 whales have been recorded alive.
They are fast, powerful, and the size of small ships. There are also huge numbers of sperm whales – large mammals that are so large, they’re often mistaken for a whale.
Bryde’s whales are a type of cetacean, which means they are a form of mammal with a whale-like body. In the past, whales have also been referred to as “whale cows.” While most of our knowledge about them comes from fossilized bones, there are a few theories about when and where this species emerged.
