   Whales, the biggest creatures in the world. A sea being that eats tonnes of planktons a day. A wondrous animal in our environment that is capable of producing the highest sound frequency in the animal kingdom, a 180 dB rumble. Currently, they are dealing with a threat commonly known as extinction.
Image by WikimediaImages from Pixabay
   There are about more than 80 species of whales in this world, each with different characteristics. The question arises, what was the purpose of the creation of such a big mammal? Primitive human thinks it to be a blessing of oil but is that all?
Importance
   Whales are essential to the environment more than we know about them. They play a vital role in our environment and maintain the ocean's ecosystem. If a particular creature is removed from the food chain, this will affect the food chain, and over the time passage, we could see the effects. The excretion of whales also contributes to the environment by compensating the excess amount of Carbon in air.
Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. Whales play a significant role in capturing carbon from the atmosphere; each great whale sequesters an estimated 33 tons of CO2 on average, thus playing their part in the fight against climate change.
Extinction
   Over the years, whales have been poached for their oil, and this is one of the reasons making whales an endangered species. In the past, a substantial sum of whales has been killed by men just for their oil. The man became fond of whale oil.
   In the following 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were removed from the ecosystem yearly. Due to this, in 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned whaling due to the rapid decrease in their population.
Some of the endangered whales have been listed below in the table.
| Whales | Population (induviduals) |
|---|---|
| North Atlantic right whale | 300-350 |
| Gray Whale | 150 |
| Bowhead Whale | 10,000 |
| Fin Whale | 50,000-90,000 |
| Sei Whale | around 8,600 |
| Blue Whale | 10,000-25,000 |
| Narwhal | over 80,000 |
| Beluga | over 150,000 |
   Another factor of whales endangerment is the beaching of whales. Beaching of whales is a case when whale strands on the shore. Beachings are severe, and eventually, a whale ends up meeting death.
   Some say that poor navigation, hunting close to the shore, and overaged of whales is a cause of beaching. Recent researches conclude that SONARs are also a reason for whale beachings. High-frequency range SONARs lead to disruption in the water.
   For example, when the military uses high-frequency SONAR or ultrasonic SONAR to find an enemy submarine, it makes a disturbance in the water. And due to the audible frequency range of whales, they can hear to the sound waves, causing stress. To escape the stress, whales come out to the shore resulting in a new whale beaching, which later results in death.
   Beachings of whales are a severe dilemma, and we need to find a possible plan to protect these creatures from extinction. It seems likely that rather than protecting these creatures, we are contributing to their extermination.
   Whales offset carbon in the atmosphere, which means they are very beneficial in removing the carbon dioxide from the air, and carbon dioxide is a common issue today.
