International News

SYDNEY, (APP/AFP): Antarctic blue whales, the largest
creatures on the planet, likely belong to three populations that feed alongside each other but breed in separate oceans, according to Australian-led research published Wednesday.
Using the largest data set ever obtained from the critically
endangered subspecies, the study in the Scientific Reports journal seeks to shed light on blue whale populations to aid their conservation.
“We found genetic evidence that there are three groups of Antarctic blue whales that likely represent three populations,” the study’s lead author Catherine Attard, a biological sciences lecturer at South Australia’s Flinders University, told AFP.
“We suspect that each population migrates north to breed in a different ocean basin.”
Relatively little is known about the Antarctic blue whale, even though they are the biggest animal in the world and can grow to more than 30 metres (100 feet) in length.