We all want to be on the right side of history. 

It remains to be seen if that will be the case for the right whale. With last week’s death of a juvenile female whale and the increasing pace of this species’ destruction, we might be the generation that sees the extinction of a great creature. No matter where the blame is specifically placed — historic whaling, vessel strikes, entanglements, ocean development and disturbance — it is ultimately humanity’s failure if we see the disappearance of the species. 

It began, and maybe ends, with us. Whaling was the first strike. With more than 40 per cent of its body weight being blubber, right whales provided a lot of valuable oil. Considered the “right” whale to commercially catch and harvest because of its slow speed, docile nature, close-to-shore preference and ability to float after it was killed, these whales were an easy an lucrative target. Some have suggested that is how its name was determined. 

Other disagree. American author E.J. Dolin, who wrote a history a whaling in America, shares a difference origin of that name: “Despite this highly plausible rationale, nobody actually knows how the right whale got its name. The earliest references to the right whale offer no indication why it was called that, and some who have studied the issue point out that the word “right” in this context might just as likely be intended “to connote ‘true’ or ‘proper,’ meaning typical of the group.” 

It is not surprising that Islanders flocked to see the body of this true and proper whale that washed up deceased at Cow Bay beach. For many, it may be the only opportunity to see this impressive species, alive or dead.  

Sized extra, extra, extra-large, this whale species stretches 50-feet long and weighs in at more than 100 short tons, putting it in the top ten list of the largest animals in the world. 

Where it does take the number one spot is for biggest male genitalia. Just the whale’s testes come in at more than 1,100 pounds, which is the weight of a Volkswagen Beetle, and that pair can produce more than a gallon of sperm that emerges from its nine-foot sex organ.

To maintain their body weight, right whales must consume 2,500 to 5,000 pounds of food a day. The mainstay of a right whale’s diet is plankton, specifically copepods, krill, pteropods and other small floating snacks of a similar ilk. 

Identifying individual whales is possible through observing the callosities on their heads, which serve as a fingerprint of sorts in their distinctiveness. 

Callosities are unique, rough, white patches of skin that are the homeland of whale lice, a hitchhiking crustacean that lives on the callosities and eats algae off of the whale’s skin. This is perhaps another indignity for the whale, though scientists do not believe those lice are harmful to the whales.  

With only 360 or so individual right whales left, every wrong done to these creatures through human-induced means is tragic and dangerous. We can only hope and work for their survival, and try to put right our relationship with this declining species.

Suzan Bellincampi is Islands director for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown and the Nantucket Wildlife Sanctuaries. She is also the author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.