Year of Birth: 1992

In September of 1992, whale researchers were faced first hand with the tragic reality of the threatened existence of the right whale. Delilah, a female right whale known to researchers for over 12 years, met an untimely death after a collision with a vessel. At the time, Delilah was nursing her first calf, one of only,12 calves born in 1992. With Delilah dead, researchers feared that her calf was not old enough to survive. Researchers and fishermen mounted a Search for the orphaned calf, but it was never found.

On August 20, 1993, in the course of carrying out standard photo identification studies, we took a photograph of a young right whale in the Bay of Fundy. When the photos were checked against others from last year it was discovered that this young whale was indeed Delilah's missing calf. The calf had survived and successfully returned to the Bay of Fundy, no small feat for a young whale that had been left to fend for itself. The orphaned calf was photographed among a group of right whales and appeared to be in good health.

The calf was nicknamed Calvin after the comic strip character. Like its namesake, the right whale Calvin showed resourcefulness, tenacity, a surprising ability to survive, and of course, playfulness.

Calvin has returned to the Bay of Fundy every year since 1993, and genetic testing has determined that the whale is a female.

The North Atlantic right whale is the rarest of the worlds large whales. Current estimates indicate that no more than 350 survive in the North Atlantic today.

STATISTICS:

LENGTH: 55 feet (16.76 meters)

WEIGHT: 70 tons

LENGTH AT BIRTH: less than 15 feet (5.48 meters)

WEIGHT AT BIRTH: one ton

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: distinctive V-shaped blow; no dorsal fin; broad flat back; callosities on top of head; short broad flippers; wide, smooth, black tail; "flukes" (raises it's tail out of the water) when diving.

STATUS: ENDANGERED. Protected from hunting in all oceans since 1935 RANGE: Florida to Iceland

DIET: calanold copepods, juvenile euphausiids

OTHER INTERESTING STATISTICS: over 30% of documented deaths are due to ship collision; 57% of the photographed population have scars indicative of accidental entanglements with fishing gear; mothers give birth every 3-5 years; it has been estimated that a single right whale may consume one ton of plankton per day while feeding. Right whale #1045 has a 50 year sighting history !

SOME UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:

Where is the majority of the population in the winter ?

How long do right whales live ?

Is the population increasing at a sustainable rate ?

Do all the right whales in the North Atlantic comprise a single stock ?

Unique to each right whale is a pattern of cornified skin on the top of the animals head, over the eyes, on the chin, and behind the blowhole. These areas of hard black skin are covered with whale lice shortly after birth. These whale lice are small crustaceans called cyamids, and the whole structure is referred to as the callosities. The cyamids give the callosities a whitish appearance, the cornified skin itself is black. After an animal is photographed, it's composite drawing is made. (see "COMPOSITE DRAWING"). This gives us a quick reference to check to see if we recognize the animal as one that is already in the catalog. Each new animal is given an EGNO, (Eubalaena glacialis number), and is put in it's own folder along with photographs. Every time the whale is seen again, photos are taken and are added to the file. Some right whales have over 500 pictures in their files !