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Northern Right
Whale Behaviour
Northern Right
Whale Foraging Behaviour
Right
whales are baleen whales that filter food form the water. They
chiefly eat crustaceans, euphasiids, and other zooplankton.
They catch the plankton prey by skimming the water surface
with mouth partly open straining prey with the baleen plates
(Wilson and Ruff 1999). Right whales raise their tail flukes
high into the air before diving.
Northern Right
Whale Breeding Behaviour
Male right
whales reach sexual maturity when they are 15 meters long and
females at 15.5 meters long (Wilson and Ruff 1999). The age of
these animals is thought to be between 5 and 10 years old.
Females mate with many males in succession who have very large
testes tipping the scales at about one ton. Animals with large
testes usually exhibit sperm competition as their mating
strategy. Gestation takes one year and calves are born in the
winter. Females give birth first when they are 3 or 4 years
old.
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