Genetic analysis of 16th-century whale bones prompts a revision of the impact of Basque whaling on right and bowhead whales in the western North Atlantic

The North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis (Müller, 1776), is one of the world's most endangered large cetaceans. It is widely believed that Basque whalers caused the most dramatic decline of this species in the western North Atlantic during the early-16th and 17th centuries. Previous osteological analysis of 17 historic bones suggested that 50% of the Basque harvest consisted of right whales and 50% of bowhead whales, Balaena …