July 24, 2013 — Using data obtained during six years of regular aerial surveys and genetics data collected by a consortium of research groups, scientists have strengthened evidence pointing to the central Gulf of Maine as a mating ground for North Atlantic right whales, according to a study recently published online in the journal Endangered Species Research.
The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the most endangered marine mammal species in the world and has been intensively studied for decades. Much has been learned about its habitat, behavior, and population demographics. But until now, there was little to indicate where these whales mated, a big missing piece in the puzzle of their life history.
"A high proportion of potential mates aggregated in the central Gulf of Maine between November and January, and these same individuals produced a calf a year later. We concluded that this is a pretty strong indication of a mating ground if the gestation period is 12 months," said Tim Cole, lead author and a biologist at the Woods Hole Laboratory of NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC).
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