E+robustus

__//**Anima**l Classification//__ Genius and species name: Grey Whale Class- MAMMALIA Order- CETARTIODACTYLA Family- ESCHRICHTIIDAE  5 __//Endangered Species Act//__ Year assessed: 2008

justification for why were they put on the endangered species list: When the two subpopulations are assessed as a single species-level unit, the estimated population size is above the threshold for a threatened category, and the population has increased over the last three generations. The recent apparent decline in the eastern subpopulation is considered to be a fluctuation and is not inconsistent with a Least Concern listing. The western subpopulation is listed separately as Critically Endangered. __//Description on Habitat//__ -Location of Ecosystem: -Tempurtures between -2 to 25 degrees celcius in the Pacific Ocean -Between 80 to 25 degrees Latitude. -29 to 34 PSS -In the pacific ocean, it is common to have Earthquakes, valcanos, seafloor spreading, and Subduction

Currents: North Pacific Current, California Current, Alaska Current, Kuroshio Current, and Oyashio Current. Migration Patterns: The Grey whale starts its journey at the Top of Mexico. They then travel all the way up the West Coast up the coast of Alaska. They travel   10,000-12,000 miles a year enjoying mexico's warm waters in the winter time and Alaska's waters in the summer. Population of the Species/Survival trends of species: After being hunted nearly to extinction, the Grey whale has since been able to make a come back.There are two counts of grey whales in the world. The western count is 100 whales left. The Easter count is an estimated Eighteen to twentyfour thousand Grey Whales left. Appearance of Species: -Size ranges from 11 to 14 meters for adults -color is a malted grey and the animals are often covered in barnacles - No dorsal fin, just a hump at the back of the head and "knucles" 2/3 the way down the grey whale's back -It's tale has trailing out edges with a deep knotch in the middle of it. 4 Repoduction: "Gray whale breeding occurs mostly in the winter to early spring while near the surface and in warm waters. The gestation period is about 13.5 months and the calf is born head first (unusual for cetaceans) and near the surface of the warm, shallow waters. The newborn instinctively swims to the surface within 10 seconds for its first breath; it is helped by its mother, using her flippers. Within 30 minutes of its birth the baby whale can swim. The newborn calf is about 15 feet long and weighs about 1-1.5 ton. Twins are extremely rare (about 1% of births); there is almost always one calf. The baby is nurtured with its mother's fatty milk (53% fat) and is weaned in about 7-8 months. The mother and calf may stay together for about a year. Calves drink 50-80 pounds of milk each day. Gray whales reach maturity at 8 years. Growth stops at age 40 years old. Mature females give birth every other year in the warm lagoons off Baja, Mexico." -  [|1] 3 Grey Whale's Anatomy: -160 pairs of baleen plates -The baleen size is 15 inches long and 10 inches wide (it is very thick) -The color of the baleen is gray with yellowish bristles -average heart rate of large whales is from about 10 to 30 heart beats per minute -A Whale's sleeping pattern is called unihemispherical sleeping.They sleep about 8 hours each day. Because they have to be partially conscious to breathe, whales are able to partly sleep by letting one half of their brain sleep at a time. -layer of blubber up to 10 inches (25 cm) thick -There are hairy bristles (vibrassae) on the gray whale's snout and the front of the head (These are used as tactile sensors, like cat's whiskers) -Gray whales breathe air at the surface of the water through 2 blowholes located near the top of the head. -At rest, gray whales spout (breathe) 2-3 times per minute. Between deep dives they take deep breaths for about 3-5 minutes. -The spout of the gray whale is a noisy stream that rises 10-13 feet (3-4 m) above the water. It can be heard half a mile away. -Gray whales normally swim 2-6 mph (3.2-9.8 kph), but can go up to 10-11 mph -Gray whales have a life expectancy of 50-60 years 1

Food Chain: -They are benthic (bottom) feeders. They look through the mud on the bottom of the ocean floor of the Arctic with their baleen. They filters out small crustaceans like amphipods, krill, copepods, plankton, and mollusks from the ocean floor. -The Grey Whale feeds on it's right side, sucking up mouthfuls of mud filled with organic matter. Their baleen filters out the nourishing organic material like amphipods. -The whale spits out the mud and the tongue loosens the small food from the baleen plates and then swallows the food. - The killer whale, large sharks and humans are a huge threat to the Grey Whale.

3Economic importance of the Grey Whale: -The Gray whale almost went extinct due to the hunting of it. -"Yupik Eskimos who hunt the gray whale in Alaska, and 19th century commercial whalers who hunted the gray whale in Mexico have each called it "devil fish" because of its reputation for fighting back and overturning boats when attacked." 2 -"In the 1800s, when commercial whalers discovered the calving lagoons, the concentration of whales in the shallow waters made their wholesale slaughter very easy."2

Conservation efforts: -In the 19th century, intensive hunting brought the gray whale close to extinction. Although whales in the western Pacific are still endangered, protection efforts in the eastern Pacific seemed, at first, to have brought the population there back to pre-whaling numbers. -But new genetic research shows gray whales may once have been much more abundant than they are today. The finding suggests the world's oceans may no longer be able to support such a large population. -The gray whales of the eastern Pacific have been considered one of the great success stories of species recovery. After being hunted to near-extinction by commercial whalers, their current population is now estimated to be about 22,000. But new data on historic gray whale populations are forcing scientists to reassess how well these whales have recovered.

Reasons for endangerment: - As a result of global warming, the Grey whale's miragtion patters are being thrown off. -The whales are spending more time in the cooler waters up north in the pacific and Artic, rather than in the south by Baja California. "Pollution poses a threat to whales around the world. Chemical contaminants in the water and in whales' food sources may accumulate in their systems, and because they are long-lived, may reduce longevity and reproduction." 2 - the babies are drinking their mothers milk, which is high in toxins

Three solutions: -People should learn to respect the endangered animals more and watch their population number -We could spend more time in labs to see what we can do to help with the reproduction of the Grey Whale -It would be best to keep the law about hunting the whales in tact until they can stabalize as a species on their own

THREE QUESTIONS: -Where do the Grey Whale start and end their migration? -How is the Grey Whale's population doing currently? -If you could do something to help save them, what would you do?

Cites: 1- [] 2--http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/van_anim_grywhale.htm 3. [] 4.__ www.newportwhales.com __ 5. shankarwolf.wordpress.com