Mammals
Southern Right Whale
Eubalaena australis · also called southern right whales
Breaching dramatically in a sheltered Southern Hemisphere bay, a southern right whale demonstrates a genuine conservation turnaround, one of tens of thousands of individuals now thriving in a population that has rebuilt itself so successfully since the end of commercial whaling.
Overview
The southern right whale, Eubalaena australis, is a large baleen whale native to coastal and offshore ocean waters across the Southern Hemisphere, migrating between polar feeding grounds and warmer coastal breeding areas. Its strong population recovery since commercial whaling ended, individually identifiable head callosities, and surprisingly playful surface behaviour make it one of the more genuinely encouraging conservation stories among the world’s great whales.
A recovery its northern relative never achieved
While the North Atlantic right whale continues to decline toward critical endangerment, the southern right whale has instead rebuilt its population to tens of thousands, a stark contrast between two closely related species facing very different modern pressures.
Status
Least Concern and increasing, having recovered strongly since the end of commercial whaling to a population now numbering in the tens of thousands across the Southern Hemisphere.
Southern Right Whale: common questions
Why has the southern right whale recovered so much better than the North Atlantic right whale?
This species benefits from breeding and feeding grounds with generally less intensive shipping traffic and fishing activity compared with the North Atlantic right whale's range along the busy eastern coast of North America, allowing southern right whale populations to recover strongly to the tens of thousands while its northern relative remains critically endangered.
Why is the southern right whale called a right whale?
This species swims relatively slowly and spends considerable time near the surface, traits that made it comparatively easy for historical whalers to hunt compared with faster whale species, leading to the grim commercial-era name reflecting that it was considered the right whale to hunt.
How do researchers identify individual southern right whales?
This species displays rough, raised patches of skin called callosities on its head, and because the specific pattern of these callosities is unique to each individual, researchers can use photographs of them to identify and track specific whales across years and even decades.
Where can people see southern right whales?
This species migrates seasonally to sheltered coastal bays across the Southern Hemisphere to breed and give birth, gathering in predictable locations that have become popular and reliable sites for whale-watching tourism during the breeding season.