Portal:New England/Selected article/17
Right whales are three species of large baleen whales consisting of the genus Eubalaena in the family Balaenidae of order Cetacea. Their bodies are very dark gray or black and rotund.
A popular explanation for the name "right whales" is that they were the "right" ones to hunt, as they float when killed and often swim within sight of shore. They are quite docile, and do not tend to shy away from approaching boats. As such, they were hunted nearly to extinction during the active years of the whaling industry. This origin is apocryphal. In his history of American whaling, Eric Jay Dolin writes: "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. (Full article...)