PARASITES living on the white calluses that scar the bodies of right whales are being used to track the whales’ evolutionary history. The genes of the “whale lice” confirm that North Atlantic, North Pacific and southern right whales are distinct species that split 5 to 6 million years ago when the Pacific and Atlantic oceans divided.
Populations of right whales are so small that it is difficult to do genetic studies on the whales themselves. But an average 7500 lice from three different species live on each animal’s body, and their large numbers and fast reproduction make for far more…
