Gray whales in a small group that sticks close to the shores of the Pacific Northwest appear to be shrinking—and shockingly quickly
Something very strange is happening to a group of about 200 whales plying the waters off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.. They’re already quite unusual compared with their neighbors: members of the Pacific Coast Feeding Group, as the band is dubbed, are smaller and slimmer, and they eat different food that they catch using different techniques, all while sticking to the coasts of northern California, Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia.
This schematic shows the difference in length between a PCFG gray whale born in 2020 vs one born prior to the year 2000. OSU researchers determined that a full-grown PCFG gray whale born in 2020 is expected to reach an adult body length that is 1.65 meters shorter than a gray whale born prior to 2000. For PCFG gray whales that grow to be 38-41 feet long at full maturity, that accounts for a loss of more than 13% of their total length.
Although such changes in a subpopulation sometimes herald a new species in the process of developing, both Pirotta and Lang say that’s likely not the case with these gray whales. Because scientists haven’t detected any genetic changes in the coastal clique, it’s likely that the size decline instead is a flexible response to changing conditions, they say.
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