Gray whales that feed in the shallow waters off the Pacific Northwest coast have shrunk in size by 13% over the past 20 to 30 years, an Oregon State University study found.

Once reaching maturity, gray whales belonging to the Pacific Coast Feeding Group located in the more shallow coastal waters along Oregon and California can grow up to 49 feet long. However, the Marine Mammal Institute’s Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna collected photos via drones of 130 individual whales with known or estimated age. Researchers found that a full-grown whale born in 2020 is expected to reach an adult body length of about 5 feet, 5 inches shorter than a gray whale born before 2000. This accounts for more than a 13% loss in their total length.

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