Table 2 Size ratios between feeding and breeding grounds

From: Migrating baleen whales transport high-latitude nutrients to tropical and subtropical ecosystems

 

Feeding: calving

Feeding: breeding

Summer: winter

North Atlantic

 Humpback

2.77

2.77

0.57

 Right

25.5

22.5

0.80

North Pacific

 Humpback

2.42

1.13

0.83

 Gray

46.0

14.5

4.20

Southern Hemisphere

 Humpback

5.12

2.04

0.52

 Right

18.2

9.11

4.92

  1. The feeding-to-calving ratio represents the overlap between known calving grounds with winter observations, the most constrained of assumptions. Column two, feeding to breeding, includes breeding areas that were found in the literature and have a wider distribution in the winter. The summer-to-winter ratio includes all data points in the winter and has the lowest ratio, presumably because it includes whales that don’t migrate or those that arrive late or depart early, thus extending the winter range. Feeding ground (summer) observations are consistent throughout.