词条 | gray whale |
释义 | gray whale mammal ![]() The gray whale attains a maximum length of about 15 metres (49 feet). It is gray or black, mottled with white, and has short yellow baleen with coarse bristles. There are two (rarely more) lengthwise grooves on its throat. Instead of a dorsal fin, the back has a row of low humps along its length. ![]() The gray whale was hunted almost to extinction by 1925 but was eventually placed under complete international protection and has increased in numbers since the 1940s. This recovery has occurred primarily in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is estimated that there are now more California gray whales than in 1847, when whaling began there. In 1994 it was removed from the U.S. endangered species list. The species is no longer found in the Atlantic Ocean, however, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the western Pacific population as critically endangered. The gray whale is the only living member of its genus and of the family Eschrichtiidae. |
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