Northern Right Whale
The party animal of the whale world just might be this seemingly mellow fellow. They're not the fastest swimmers, but northern right whales pull off some surprisingly gymnastic maneuvers, considering that they can weigh more than 200,000 pounds. These 50-foot marine mammals have been known to breach, or leap out of the water headfirst, more than ten times in a row! They also stick their tails out of the water and slap the surface with a great big smack. And to get the party really started, they use their tails as sails, allowing the wind to push them through the water. Scientists think they may do this just for fun.
What's not so fun is that this species is the most endangered large whale on the planet. Right whales live in the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific oceans--but scientists say the total population could be as low as 500. Hunted by the tens of thousands up through the 1800s, right whales were in danger of extinction by 1860. Today, it's illegal to hunt these whales, but they can die if they collide with a ship or get entangled in fishing gear.