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WHAT IS A SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE?

The southern right whale is a species of baleen whale which was once hunted to the brink of extinction by humans.

Hunting of the ocean giants was banned in 1935 but illegal Russian whaling operations continued until the late 1970s.

Southern right whales are huge, measuring up to 56 feet (17m) long for a fully-grown female or 49 feet (15m) for a male.

They can weigh up to 198,000lbs (90,000kg; 90 tonnes).

The whales are slow swimmers and naturally full of blubber, oil, meat and baleen (whalebone), all of which combined to make them prime targets for whalers.

Southern right whales live all over the southern hemisphere of the Earth and migrate every year to warmer waters to breed, often off the coast of South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Their bodies are mostly black with patches of white on their underbelly and chin, and they lift their huge tails out of the water when starting to dive beneath the surface.

Source: Whale and Dolphin Conservation 

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