by Crowded into a tiny plane, 1,000 feet above the water off Georgia, the surveyors look down in search of a disturbance—a long splash, or a dark patch amid all that blue.
If they're lucky, the surveyors will get what they are here for: a glimpse of a North Atlantic right whale, among the rarest in the world.
The pilot follows a track line, the last part of the last pass of Dec. 4. There are thought to be fewer than 400 of the right whales alive today, and no more than 100 females that can breed.
Human hunters decimated the species. Now this high-stakes game of "I Spy," including three teams affiliated with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, is one part of an urgent mission to prevent these whales from blinking into extinction.
Survivors swim to the Southeast, from the Carolinas to Florida, for calving season. As long as 52 feet, as heavy as 140,000 pounds, they may live up to 70 years unencumbered.
Continued...
Source
If they're lucky, the surveyors will get what they are here for: a glimpse of a North Atlantic right whale, among the rarest in the world.
The pilot follows a track line, the last part of the last pass of Dec. 4. There are thought to be fewer than 400 of the right whales alive today, and no more than 100 females that can breed.
Human hunters decimated the species. Now this high-stakes game of "I Spy," including three teams affiliated with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, is one part of an urgent mission to prevent these whales from blinking into extinction.
Survivors swim to the Southeast, from the Carolinas to Florida, for calving season. As long as 52 feet, as heavy as 140,000 pounds, they may live up to 70 years unencumbered.
Continued...
Source
