Talk:Fin Whale

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Contents 1 Distribution map 2 Weight at Birth 3 Capitalization of common names 4 Fin whale total population 5 current populations 6 migration

[edit] Distribution map

The map: I think a lot of what I've put at Talk:Blue Whale also applies here too (e.g. Fin Whale is extremely rare in the North Sea and Baltic Sea) - anyone care to comment? - MPF 00:28, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Weight at Birth

is this accurate at 3000kg as the Blue whale page says a new born of that species weighs 1350kg. I could almost understand the Fin being a little heavier at birth - but twice as heavy? Surely one of them is a mistake. Petsco 15:03, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

ADW says 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) for the Fin Whale, and most webpages give similar figures (usually 1.8–2.0 tonnes). Also, Blue Whale newborns are a bit larger than that, usually 1,800–2,700 kg (4,000–6,000 lb). I've seen much greater figures though: Lyall Watson's Whales of the World: A Field Guide to the Cetaceans (1981) gave the birth weight of a Blue Whale at 7,500 kg (16,500 lb), and I've seen this figure quoted elswhere, but this seems to be erroneus. Perhaps this inflated birth weight for the Fin Whale was based on these same sources.

The weight of 120 tonnes (132 sh t) for the adult is also too much. Few modern sources give more than 70 tonnes (77 sh t) for this species. --Anshelm '77 20:37, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization of common names

This article was screaming out for a copyedit of all the capitalized common names. This is a point that has been argued many different places (see Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (fauna) and Talk:Bottlenose Dolphin/Move discussion for a couple.) I'm more familiar with the standards outlined at Wikiproject Fishes which uses all lowercase, but this article falls under WikiProject Cetaceans which has chosen to standardize on capitalized common names. This is just a heads up in case someone else gets tempted to help with the "capitalization errors". I'd support changing the standard at that project if there is consensus and I left a note on that project's talk page about it, but I've left everything as is for now. Neil916 (Talk) 21:20, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fin whale total population

The article says under Population and distribution: "The total population is estimated to be just in excess of 100,000." According to BBC.co.uk "There are no agreed estimates of current population...". ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456973/html/nn6page1.stm ) Is there any reliable source for this number, 100.000 animals? - gumol 21:47, 22 Oct 2006 (UTC)

I've been in the process of trying to replace much of the unsourced and unreferenced information in the article (hence the confusion mentioned below). I'd take any unsourced information in this article with a large grain of salt for the time being until I can run things down. When checking facts, I've come across some widely varying numbers. Neil916 (Talk) 05:23, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] current populations

I was curious about current populations but got confused. One paragraph says "...include 24,000 in the Southern Ocean..." and another paragraph says "...although Southern ocean populations are currently estimated to be no more than 5,000 individuals and possibly only 2,000-3,000." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gloryroad (talk • contribs) 05:03, October 23, 2006 (UTC)

Alas, you caught me in the middle of a rewrite. I replaced unreferenced information in the article with cited material, hence the 5,000 number, and hadn't yet gotten to removing the other numbers yet. Still working on it though! Thanks for pointing it out. Neil916 (Talk) 05:22, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] migration

"There are three suggested reasons for this. One is that the Atlantic Gulf Stream reduces the north-south temperature gradient making migration a less attractive option. Another is that food may be available in the cold north all year, again reducing the need for travel. Finally, it may be that since Fin Whales stay in colder, deeper waters during the Winter, they are further from the shore and their actual movements are more difficult to accurately track."

I have been unable to locate a source for the temperature gradient hypotheses, so I have temporarily removed it from the article. The second part isn't so much of a statement of migration, so i've integrated it into the habitat section with references, and the third one has been referenced with respect to the Antarctic Fin Whale, but I haven't seen anything relative to the North Pacific and North Atlantic whales. Neil916 (Talk) 14:34, 26 October 2006 (UTC)