The North Pacific right whale is one of the rarest animals in the Bering Sea. Only about 30 North Pacific right whales inhabit the eastern Bering Sea, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. This week, a NOAA researcher was able to find and collect information on not one but two of these whales.

Spirit camp participants and residents along the Yukon River were shocked to see a lone beluga whale on the Yukon River in early August.

North Pacific right whales, once numbering in the tens of thousands, swam throughout the Bering Sea until they were nearly wiped out by commercial hunters. Now the Eastern North Pacific right whale population is estimated to total about 30 individuals, and its habitat is believed to be concentrated in the southeastern corner of the Bering Sea.