Finback Whale
Facts About the Finback Whale
The Finback Whale is the second largest whale in the world. It grows to a length of around seventy feet and weighs seventy tons. They are bluish gray in color and their stomachs are whitish-yellow. The Finback Whale is also one of the fastest whales, with a normal speed of around 14 mph. It can go as fast as 35 mph in short bursts. They are also great divers, remaining underwater for up to fifty minutes on one breath of air.
The Finback Whale eats many kinds of small fish, along with krill. They can be found worldwide, but mainly in southern oceans, the North Pacific and the North Atlantic. They appear to be relatively solitary mammals but groups of up to fifteen have been seen together. The animals can contact one another for long distances with low frequency sounds that are quite loud. It is believed that the Finback Whale mates in winter but they have been known to breed in the late summer off the coast of Maine as well.
When it is born, the Finback Whale is approximately fifteen to eighteen feet long and weighs around three thousand pounds. The female has a gestation period of one year. No one knows where this calving takes place but size of calves seen in summer would suggest a winter birthing. The mother takes care of the calf for at least eight months but as the whale gets older, it will go off on its own, separated by several miles from its mother. Females become mature at around six to eight years of age, but they only have one calf every two to five years. That makes it hard for Finback Whale populations to be maintained. The lifespan of a Finback Whale may be up to one hundred years but more data is needed to confirm this amount of time.
The Finback Whale is listed on the Endangered Species List. After commercial whalers had killed all of the blue whales, they started to take the Finback Whale also in great numbers. Records indicate that in the thirty years between 1930 and 1960, there were over 500,000 Finback Whales killed. Most of these were in the Antarctic. Finback Whales have been under protection worldwide, but now with a population in the 60,000-100,00 range, restrictions have been removed in some locations though they remain on the Endangered Species List in others.
Finback Whales are still at risk due to habitat destruction, pollution, and such occurrences as ship collisions. Statistics indicate that more ships collide with the Finback Whale than any other species. Iceland has begun to commercially hunt this large whale again in low numbers and the Japanese have announced they are killing fifty a year for research.