Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 128, August 2015, pp. 1-18. | Page 4

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to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966.
A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide,
located in at least five groups. More recent research into the Pygmy subspecies
suggests this may be an underestimate. Before whaling, the largest population
was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to
311,000). There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each
of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two
more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere
(Wikipedia).

Blue Whale Information Sign at the Educational Science Museum in Kuwait. Photo by:
Prof. Dr. Norman Ali Bassam Khalaf-von Jaffa. 24.06.2014.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/14569308382/
Museum Information Sign: Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus). Found on Kadmah
shore in Kuwait on 1963. It is known that these whales live in the oceans, but entered the
Arabian Gulf because of Cancerous vertebral ailment… Distribution: Found in the
Antarctic. In winter it travels to the African coast avoiding tropical seas… Diet:
Planktons and Shrimps… Features: The largest mammal the world has ever seen…
Length: 65 – 110 feet (24 – 33 m)… Weight: Up to 130 tons… Gestation: The gestation
period is 10 – 11 months, giving birth to one calf, capable of diving, swimming and
suckling… Endangered animals from over kill: Fewer than 1000 whales now exist.
Living in the oceans.
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 128 – August 2015