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Whale hunting in the 20th century significantly reduced the genetic diversity of the ocean giants, with particularly devastating effects on two species.spent centuries slaughtering whales around the world for their oil and meat, wiping out some populations and driving many species to the brink of extinction.on commercial whaling eventually helped stem the slaughter; some populations have even begun modest recoveries.
"A maternal lineage is often associated with an animal's cultural memories such as feeding and breeding locations that are passed from one generation to the next,"As whale populations declined elsewhere, commercial whalers increasingly targeted the Southern Hemisphere in the early 20th century, setting up whaling stations in remote places like South Georgia, located about 1,300 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands.
"For 60 years, the whales have been absent from the South Georgia feeding grounds, suggesting that cultural memory was lost,") whales in these waters still have fairly high genetic diversity, the study found, seemingly justifying at least cautious optimism for their overall recovery. Most whales alive today are likely descendants of the whales who faced this onslaught from humans, but as Sremba points out, some survivors of the commercial whaling era might still be out there.Any survivors from the early 20th century would be nearing the end of their life spans, though, and as they die out, it could mean the loss of even more maternal DNA lineages.
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