科学家报告说，在100多年后，露脊鲸终于重返了它们位于新西兰的栖息地。
这种体重达100多吨的鲸因其群居嬉戏和令人印象深刻的杂技表演而闻名于世，在19世纪和20世纪的工业捕鲸时代，露脊鲸在这片相同的海域几乎被捕杀殆尽。一个较小的种群设法在新西兰以南偏远的南极岛屿附近生存下来。
近些年来，有几十头雌露脊鲸返回了它们的祖先用来繁殖后代的这片海湾。研究人员表示，通常情况下，这种“文化知识”是由母亲传给女儿的。然而，传统已经丧失，直到这些富有开拓性的“女性”再次踏上寻根的旅程。
根据日前出版的《海洋生态进展系列》报道，通过比较在两地的7头鲸身上采集的组织样本中的脱氧核糖核酸（DNA），新西兰奥克兰大学的海洋生物学家E. Carroll与同事证实，一些雌露脊鲸已经从南部岛屿迁徙到新西兰。如今，传统已经恢复，科学家希望有更多的露脊鲸能够遵循先驱的足迹。
露脊鲸呈纺锤形，体表光滑无毛，可长达18米，重100吨，身体大部分呈黑色，在它们的头部有特殊的粗糙而有斑点的硬皮。它们在英语中之所以被称为“right whales”是因为捕鲸者认为它们正是捕猎的对象，它们会在陆地的视线范围内游水，在被杀死后会浮上水面。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Marine Ecology Progress Series doi:10.3354/meps09145
Population structure and individual movement of southern right whales around New Zealand and Australia
E. Carroll, N. Patenaude, A. Alexander, D. Steel, R. Harcourt, S. Childerhouse, S. Smith, J. Bannister, R. Constantine, C. Scott Baker
During the last 2 centuries, southern right whales Eubalaena australis were hunted to near extinction, and an estimated 150000 were killed by pre-industrial whaling in the 19th century and illegal Soviet whaling in the 20th century. Here we focus on the coastal calving grounds of Australia and New Zealand (NZ), where previous work suggests 2 genetically distinct stocks of southern right whales are recovering. Historical migration patterns and spatially variable patterns of recovery suggest each of these stocks are subdivided into 2 stocks: (1) NZ, comprising NZ subantarctic (NZSA) and mainland NZ (MNZ) stocks; and (2) Australia, comprising southwest and southeast stocks. We expand upon previous work to investigate population subdivision by analysing over 1000 samples collected at 6 locations across NZ and Australia, although sample sizes were small from some locations. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region haplotypes (500 bp) and microsatellite genotypes (13 loci) were used to identify 707 individual whales and to test for genetic differentiation. For the first time, we documented the movement of 7 individual whales between the NZSA and MNZ based on the matching of multilocus genotypes. Given the current and historical evidence, we hypothesise that individuals from the NZ subantarctic are slowly recolonising MNZ, where a former calving ground was extirpated. We also suggest that southeast Australian right whales represent a remnant stock, distinct from the southwest Australian stock, based on significant differentiation in mtDNA haplotype frequencies (FST = 0.15, p < 0.01; ΦST = 0.12, p = 0.02) and contrasting patterns of recovery. In comparison with significant differences in mtDNA haplotype -frequencies found between the 3 proposed stocks (overall FST = 0.07, ΦST = 0.12, p < 0.001), we found no significant differentiation in microsatellite loci (overall FST = 0.004, G’ST = 0.019, p = 0.07), suggesting ongoing or recent historical reproductive interchange.
