image: Skull of a Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei). This is the skull of the holotype that washed ashore in 2019. This individual died of hemorrhaging and starvation due to the ingestion of plastic debris. The study of Evey et al. included this individual among others for endocrine analysis of past reproductive and stress states.
Credit: National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
The life story of the critically endangered Rice's whale, estimated to have just 50 remaining adults, is evidenced in new analysis of the hormones it stores in its baleen throughout its life
Article URL: https://plos.io/494QxAO
Article title: Baleen hormone analyses reveal stress and reproductive life-history of the critically endangered Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei)
Author countries: US
Funding: This study was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Biological Sciences (award number 1906332) to MSS. Additional support was provided by The George Mason University College of Science and the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation to RGE and KEH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS One
Article Title
Baleen hormone analyses reveal stress and reproductive life-history of the critically endangered Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei)
Article Publication Date
13-May-2026
COI Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.