NPR - Decades after the threat of extinction led to them being protected from whalers, there are now about 2,200 blue whales off the West Coast, according to a new study. That's roughly 97 percent of historical levels, say researchers at the University of Washington who call their findings a conservation success story.
"This is the only population of blue whales known to have recovered from whaling," according to a university news release, "blue whales as a species having been hunted nearly to extinction."
The scientists say the population of California blue whales was never as large as many of those elsewhere on Earth, citing research that shows that whales in the eastern Pacific Ocean are distinct from those in the western Pacific. California blue whales swim in waters from the equator up to Alaska.
The new report is coming out months after the same research team studied the damage done to the same blue whale population from 1905-1971. They say the gains off the U.S. coast show that blue whales, the huge animals that have often been used to promote wildlife and environmental protections, can rebound elsewhere, as well.
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