Question

Many species, including some whales and birds, will travel thousands of kilometers during annual migrations. I. Provide one reason a species may migrate a long distance. II. The North Atlantic right whale migrates between subtropical and polar waters annually. Nearly 50% of right whale deaths are due to human activities. Describe one commercial activity, other than whaling, that may result in the death of right whales. III. Describe one strategy that could reasonably be implemented to decrease right whale deaths caused by the commercial activity you described in part II.

Answer 1

Answer:

1- A species can migrate over long distances because they have metabolisms suitable for that, adaptation mechanisms to withstand different adversities. They usually do it to be able to reproduce in ideal climaxes or feed on certain living things or plant species.

2-The existence of oil fields, or oil towers for the manufacture of fuel.

3-Implement electric cars or batteries that do not depend on fuels such as diesel, naphtha.

Explanation:

In this exercise it is good to highlight that during the migration of animals of different species their numbers decreased both to reach the territory to which they migrate and by human intervention in nature in a harmful way.

Answer 2

Answer and Explanation:

I. Feeding and reproduction seem to be one of the reasons for these long migrations that many cetaceans species carry out.

The "feeding/mating" model is based in the observation that whales travel to higher latitudes during June-July months to zones rich in food resources, while they travel back to lower latitudes during January/February to the mating areas.    

In their annual migrations, the right whales direct to the same breeding area year after year, and in general, they go back to the same region they were born. This behavior is called philopatry or site fidelity. In the case of the southern right whale, this area is Peninsula de Valdes, where they give birth and spend the firsts months of life of their newborns.

II. Human activities cause many damages to marine mammals in general. One of these activities is fishery. At least 100 right whales get stuck in fishing nets every year. Too many of these nests are intercepting the whales´ migratory route in the United States and Canada. They are extremely strong, so whenever whales get stuck on them, the animals might carry them for months or years, affecting their diving, foraging, feeding, and reproductive behavior. These nets might hurt the animals´skin, producing a wound that will probably get infected.

III. The northern right whale might get extinct in a few years if these human activities do not change. Whale defensors are working in a proposal to eliminate vertical fishery nets in the Atlantic ocean, but this process might take a few years. While doing this, an alternative to the use of these vertical lines is the use of a higher automatized technology system. But as this replacement in the activity might take a long time, in the meantime, fisheries should cancel their activities and move away their vertical nets located in the whales´migratory route, while the animals are migrating.