Gray whale Eschrichtius robustus Least concern
Where the gray whale lives – recorded in 4 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.
Pin and shaded countries are approximate. The pin is a representative wild sighting (a central record among 10,788 open-licence GBIF records), not an official range. Method · Records on GBIF · See whales & dolphins on the world map
| Scientific name | Eschrichtius robustus |
|---|---|
| Group | Whales & dolphins |
| Status | Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label) |
| Found in | 4 countries |
| Continents | Europe, North America |
| Diet (main food) | marine benthos |
| Class | Mammal |
| Order | Artiodactyla |
| Family | Eschrichtiidae |
Where does the gray whale live?
Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the gray whale in 4 countries and territories across Europe and North America.
Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.
What does a gray whale eat?
Wikidata lists the main food source of the gray whale as: marine benthos.
Is the gray whale endangered?
The gray whale’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the gray whale?
The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is a mammal in the order Artiodactyla and the family Eschrichtiidae, genus Eschrichtius. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)
About the gray whale
The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), also known as the grey whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9–15.2 m (49–50 ft), a weight of up to 41 to 45 tonnes (45 to 50 short tons; 40 to 44 long tons) and lives between 55 and 70 years, although one female was estimated to be 75–80 years of age. One of the longest-living gray whales currently is a female, first sighted in 1977, and estimated to be 53–55 years old as of 2024. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called "devil fish" because of their fighting behavior when hunted, with mothers accompanied by their calves fighting viciously to protect their young if they are attacked. The gray whale is the sole living species in the genus Eschrichtius. It is the sole living genus in the family Eschrichtiidae; however, some recent studies classify it as a member of the family Balaenopteridae. This mammal is descended from filter-feeding whales that appeared during the Neogene.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Gray whale (revision 1381424970), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q179154 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).
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