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Genetic Study Provides Estimate of Whale Populations

Posted by michael on from the a-whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite-whale dept.

ChopsMIDI writes "Many more whales were hunted in the 18th century than thought, a genetic study of the North Atlantic animals suggests. U.S. researchers say the International Whaling Commission may be underestimating by tenfold the number of whales in the seas before hunting began."

1 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. How to build up an animal population by Alethes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you can make it profitiable for companies to invest in breeding a speices, that speices will thrive. Horses would probably be extinct now if there weren't people intentionally breeding them for recreational use. I don't know enough about breeding whales to speak to this issue specifically, but I do know that there are probably a lot of creatures on this planet that thrive only because of economic motivation.