Blue whales have recovered, just about.

It’s taken quite a while, but AP can finally report that blue whales off the coast of California have finally reached pre-whaling-industry levels:

Researchers previously assumed that the pre-whaling population was higher than that. However, the study using historical data to estimate the number of whales caught between 1905 and 1971 — when whaling became illegal — estimates the current population is 97 percent as large as it was before 1905.