20. Gray Whale
The gray whale is a remarkable marine mammal, renowned for its long migrations and characteristic gray patches and barnacles on its skin. These whales undertake one of the longest migrations of any mammal, traveling up to 12,000 miles round-trip from their feeding grounds in the Arctic to breeding lagoons in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Gray whales are bottom feeders, using their baleen plates to sieve small crustaceans from the ocean floor. Despite recovering from near extinction due to historical whaling, they continue to face modern threats such as habitat loss and climate change, making their conservation a critical priority.