After commercial whaling nearly erased them, blue and fin whales are slowly reclaiming the southeast Atlantic

Per Phys.org, the world's two largest whale species—blue whales and fin whales—are making a comeback in the southeastern Atlantic. More than forty years after commercial whaling nearly wiped them out, researchers are documenting a marked increase in sightings along the coasts of Namibia and South Africa. The recovery is modest: overall numbers remain low, but ninety-five percent of the confirmed sightings come from just the last fourteen years, suggesting these ocean giants are slowly reclaiming their former waters.

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