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Right whale - BALAENA GLACIALIS
Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Rorqual": "Rorqual" is an old Norse word for "red whale." Rorquals are those whales that have plates of baleen to strain their food from the seas. "Whale" comes from an old English word, derived from an even more ancient word, all of them simply referring to the animal. Called the "right" whale, perhaps, because it has a lot of oil, meaning it is the best whale to catch for commercial reasons.
Location: The Southern Hemisphere between latitudes 200 South and 500 Sough, and the Northern Hemisphere between latitudes 200 North and 700 North.
Habitat: Aquatic. Coastal waters.
Description: The right whale is black and the underside has a few white markings. On the tip of the snout there is a large wart-like growth or "bonnet." The blubber can be more than 16 inches thick. The rear fins are up 20 feet across, and there is no dorsal fin. Total length up to 60 feet, and average weight 45 tons - but it may reach over 70 tons.
Behavior: This whale either leads a solitary life or lives as a pair, and moves with the seasons from cold to warm waters; but it never enters the polar seas. It feeds exclusively on plankton which it gathers with its long baleen. It swims slowly and punctuates three or four short breaths with a dive that lasts 15 to 20 minutes. There are two blowholes as in other whales of this type, and the two jets of water soar up to 27 feet high, and can be seen from afar.
Reproduction: Mating takes place between February and April and the single calf is born one year later, already 16 feet long.
Note: This Species has been reduced nearly to extinction. Despite the fact that it is now protected, no more than 2000 to 4000 are left throughout the world.
Go to the Cetacea Page to learn more about the other whale-like animals.
Go to the Index to compare the various Whales found in America Zoo.
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