Wildlife Fact Sheet

North Pacific right whales are hard animals to miss—they can grow up to 49 feet in length. Their heads are massive and can reach up to a third of their body length. North Pacific right whales have a series of spiked growths on their heads called callosities, the largest of which, called the bonnet, is on the tip of their noses. Sometimes these callosities have a pink, orange or yellow hue caused by whale lice. North Pacific right whales have a set of baleen plates that they use to feed—they gulp up hundreds of gallons of seawater and filter out the plankton with their baleens.

Because there are so few North Pacific right whales in the wild, scientists know little about their migration habits or habitat preferences. They do know about their breeding habits though: North Pacific right whales breed in the winter and spring, and females carry their calves for a full 12 months before giving birth.