ANCHORAGE, Alaska - "Federal scientists have sighted a rare mammal in Alaska waters - endangered blue whales, the largest animal known to live on Earth. The sighting by researchers on board a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel means the blue whale population may be getting healthier and expanding back to traditional territories.
"We are thrilled," Dr. Jay Barlow, chief scientist on board the McArthur II for a 120-day research cruise, said Friday from Kodiak. "It's been 30 years since we had a confirmed sighting up here."
Most recent population estimates show about 12,000 blue whales worldwide, with about 2,000 in U.S. waters off California in summer and fall. Others are found in found in the western Pacific, the North Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic. Blue whales in the Pacific can reach 85 feet long and 100 feet long in the Antarctic, Barlow said.
Blue whales are believed to migrate in the North Pacific in summer to northern feeding grounds, where they eat about four tons of krill per day, putting on fat for the winter. In winter, the eastern Pacific group migrates south to calving grounds off Mexico and Costa Rica, Barlow said."
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http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/nation/9262754.htm
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