Right whales are the rarest of all large whales. There are several species, but all are identified by enormous heads, which can measure up to one-third of their total body length.

These whales' massive heads and jaws accommodate hundreds of baleen “teeth.” Rights and other baleen-feeding whales use a comblike strainer of baleen plates and bristles to ensnare tiny morsels of food as they swim. Right whales feed on zooplankton and other tiny organisms using baleens up to 8 feet long.

Southern and the two species of northern right whales live in temperate Atlantic or Pacific waters, often near the coast.

Right whales were named by whalers who identified them as the “right” whale to kill on a hunt. These leviathans had