The world's most endangered large whale species is even closer to extinction than researchers thought

The world's most endangered large whale species is even closer to extinction than researchers previously thought. The North Atlantic Right Whale species is in a "crisis," NOAA says, with only a few hundred estimated individuals left in the world's oceans. 

"The species is approaching extinction with fewer than 350 individuals and fewer than 70 reproductively active females remaining," NOAA said in an updated fact sheet on the animals. 

Right whales have been undergoing an unusual mortality event since 2017, meaning that large numbers of the species have been unexpectedly dying off.