BOWHEAD WHALE

by Amanda and Christina

Before whaling, up to 30,000 bowhead whales roamed the ocean. Now only 4,000 - 6,000 ENDANGERED bowheads live.

The bowhead eats copepods, krill, amphipods, fish, and other shrimplike animals. It can eat several tons of plankton each day. Bowhead whales get food by "skimming" the ocean. They swim across the ocean with their mouths open collecting plankton. Not all baleen whales do this.

The bowheads live among the icepacks in the Arctic Ocean.

One interesting fact about the bowhead is that they are one of the largest baleen whales. The bowhead is a kind of right whale.

The bowhead's head looks like a bow of a ship, so sailors named it the bowhead. The bowhead is beautiful black and gray, with black freckles on a snow white chin. So don't forget, use your head, vote for the bowhead!