Mogul (#3845)
North Atlantic Right Whale
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ID number
3845
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Sex
Male
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Year of birth
2008
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Known Since
2008
Distinctive traits
North Atlantic right whales are identified by the calluses present on the top of the head and on the upper and lower lips. Their patterns are specific to each individual, like a fingerprint. Secondary marks such as scars can also help in identification.
Mogul has a wide and continuous line of calluses on the head forming two expansions on the right side and one on the left, as well as two islands on either side of the lower lips.
Life history
Born in 2008, Mogul has been known since his birth by researchers at the New England Aquarium, the organism in charge of the catalog of North Atlantic right whales.
Thanks to observations and a biopsy, we know his mother ( Slalom #1245) and his father (Cotton #2530).
Mogul was first observed with his mother off Georgia. For 10 years, Mogul was then spotted on the US side off Georgia, Florida and Cape Cod, and on the Canadian side, mainly in the Bay of Fundy. Along with other right whales, the young male whale moves and feeds mostly in coastal habitats.
But at the end of July 2018 – surprise! – Mogul is photographed off Iceland! His visit is surprising: in the space of thirty years, only three other members of this species have been seen on this side of the ocean. Once present in Europe, the North Atlantic right whale was hunted to extinction. The surprise is all the more important since Mogul was identified on April 21, 2018 off the coast of Massachusetts. He thus completed his transatlantic journey in less than three months! One year later, after a winter spent off the coast of the United States, Mogul crossed the ocean again. In June 2019, this time he was filmed in France, off the coast of Brittany.
According to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, Mogul has not been seen since that sighting off of France.
Last news published in Portrait de baleines
Son of the female right whale named “Slalom”, Mogul was born in 2008. As one of the last 400 representatives of his species, each of his appearances is documented at the New England Aquarium, the organization that manages the photo-identification catalog. For 10 years, Mogul has been spotted on the American side, off the coasts of Georgia, Florida and Cape Cod, and on the Canadian side, mainly in the Bay of Fundy. Along with other right whales, the young male whale travels and feeds mostly in coastal habitats.
But at the end of July 2018 – surprise! – Mogul is photographed off Iceland! His visit is surprising: in the space of thirty years, only three other members of this species have been seen on this side of the ocean. Once present in Europe, the North Atlantic right whale was hunted to extinction. The surprise is all the more important since Mogul was identified on April 21, 2018 off the coast of Massachusetts. He thus completed his transatlantic journey in less than three months! One year later, after a winter spent off the coast of the United States, Mogul crossed the ocean again. In June 2019, this time he was filmed in France, off the coast of Brittany.
What makes Mogul travel? In recent years, climate change has altered the usual feeding grounds of right whales, leading some individuals to look elsewhere for the necessary resource.