From 440 to 25,000: One Humpback Whale Population’s Amazing Recovery

By Leslie Nemo
Oct 17, 2019 2:08 PMNov 18, 2019 11:41 PM
Humpback-Whales
Humpback whale populations have recovered since whaling was banned, some from near extinction. (Credit: Tomas Kotouc/Shutterstock)

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In the late 1950s, only 440 humpback whales — or 1.6 percent of their onetime number — were swimming around the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to whaling restrictions, these school bus-sized aquatic mammals have started to come back.

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