Grey Whales Face Threat from Starvation

Grey whales were hunted almost to extinction in the 1850's and again in the early 1900's. But global protection, begun in the 1930's, brought them back and, in the 1990's, they were removed from the endangered species list, when their population had grown to some 25,000. Recently, though, there have been signs of trouble. University of Bath zoologist William Megill, whose work is funded by Earthwatch, says that now the population is down to just 18,000 or so, and scientists are alarmed by what they call "skinny whale syndrome."