Size matters: Oregon State study finds Pacific coast whales have shrunk

Gray whales that feed in the shallow waters off the Pacific Northwest coast have shrunk in size by 13% over the past 20 to 30 years.

Once reaching maturity, gray whales belonging to the Pacific Coast Feeding Group located in the more shallow coastal waters along Oregon and California can grow up to 49 feet long. However, the Marine Mammal Institute’scollected photos via drones of 130 individual whales with known or estimated age. Researchers found that a full-grown whale born in 2020 is expected to reach an adult body length of about 5 feet, 5 inches shorter than a gray whale born before 2000.

“In general, size is critical for animals,” Enrico Pirotta, lead author of the study and a researcher at the With the gray whales’ shrunken size, researchers are led to question their ability to recover from injuries.

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