Northern bottlenose whales are brownish-grey whales with a large forehead, round body and beaked nose. They are only found in the cold waters of the North Atlantic ocean near Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador. There is also a group of about 200 whales found further south, near Nova Scotia in a deep canyon called The Gully. These whales can dive to the bottom of this deep canyon to search for food, mainly squid and fish. These animals are very protective of each other and also friendly � they often will approach boats at the surface. They communicate with each other using their own language made up of clicks and other sounds.
Why are these whales endangered?
These whales were hunted by humans in the past and the whales have still not recovered from that � this hunting left few northern bottlenose whales. The good news is that today we know how important these whales are and have protected them so that it is against the law to hunt them. Today noise and pollution from ships and oil rigs is also a threat to the whales, but the Gully where they live has been made a Marine Protected Area (in 2004) by the government of Canada in the hope that this will help the whales. It�s a great step in the effort to protect nature.
What can I do?
- Discover what makes the northern bottlenose whale and other species of whales so interesting! Read about the different types of whales at the library or by searching the internet. How did whaling affect the whales? What is the IWC and what did they do? How do oil spills affect marine animals and sea birds?
Check out: http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/search/speciesDetails_e.cfm?SpeciesID=359
http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/e/essim/gully/essim-gully-e.html