Breaking News English

This is a good-news story about [seal / sea] life. Scientists have reported that the numbers of blue whales in the eastern Pacific Ocean [is / are] the highest they have been in [above / over] a century. Researchers at the University of Washington report that [these / there] are now over 2,200 blue whales between Mexico and Alaska. Hunters [killed / kill] nearly all the blue whales in that area and were close [to / as] extinction. Whaling became [illegally / illegal] in 1971 and the numbers of the world's [largest / large] mammal started increasing. It has taken over 40 years for the blue whale to [recovery / recover] . Lead researcher Dr Cole Monnahan was very happy at this positive news. He said: "For us, this is a great conservation [success / succeed] story."

Dr Monnahan said the number of 2,200 blue whales [in / on] the area might not rise any [farther / further] . He said: "Before this [study / studies] , some people thought that number should be [gone / going] up, but if there were about 2,200 whales to begin [without / with] , then that is what the environment can [support / supportive] ." Monnahan warned that the creature still needs to be protected, saying: "California blue whales are [recoverable / recovering] because we took actions to stop [catch / catches] and start monitoring. If we hadn't, the population might have been pushed to near [extinction / extinct] ." He added that: "The recovery of California blue whales from whaling demonstrates the ability of blue whale populations to rebuild under careful management and [conversation / conservation] measures."