-  behaviour
 -  species
 -  whales, not fish

© Greenpeace

The earth's great whales have been targeted by whalers over the centuries, bringing some populations to the brink of extinction. All bar one, the sperm whale, are baleen whales, feeding on small crustaceans or fish which they strain out from the water by means of the baleen plates growing from the roofs of their mouths. The sperm whale is however a toothed whale which mainly hunts squid in deep waters.

All whale population estimates are approximate due to the inherent difficulties in their calculation and are often the subject of much controversy in the IWC Scientific Committee. As a result of this uncertainty, it is often difficult for scientists to ascertain whether a particular whale population is increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable.

The status given for each species is the threat category as ascribed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). For more information visit http://www.iucn.org. The threat of extinction may be more or less immediate for different populations of a particular species.

Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis)
Bryde's whale (Baleonoptera edeni)
Minke whale (Balaenoptera spp.)
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Right whales (Eubalaena spp.)
Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus)
Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus)
Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)