Conservationists should remember that nature has wisely designed each species of plant and animal with a built-in margin of safety; namely, a surplus of young which will repopulate the species from periods of extreme adversity. Yet these surpluses must somehow usually be eliminated lest the species overpopulate its habitat and destroy its own sustenance. The controls which limit the population are many and the population existing from year to year is the statistical average of these many controls. Diseases, predators, and other adversities are necessary evils, which are in the final analysis blessings in disguise. Whales, too, have their checks, although we are a long way from knowing their relative importance. Perhaps the most critical moment in the life of the whale is birth, because the newborn whale must surface immediately or suffocate. Any abnormality in the birth process or weakness on the part of the infant may cause its loss. Inasmuch as a whale calves only every other year, the loss of a baby is serious, and especially so because a whale produces but a single calf. Less than one per cent of whale births are twins which is about the same frequency as for humans. A careful examination of the shores around the breeding lagoons reveals that a few babies are lost at birth. Current Scientific Inquiry _Life Expectancy_ Life expectancy is another very useful statistic for population studies. The whaling industry has no easy way of finding this out because whaling never gives an individual whale the chance to attain old age. Perhaps we can eventually determine life expectancy for the gray whale if it can continue to be protected from whaling. By counting the number of babies produced each year, and knowing the life expectancy, We might indirectly obtain the number of whales which die before they have realized their life expectancy. This number should represent the surplus on which whaling could be based. A further study would be necessary to determine what percentage of the surplus could be diverted to the whaling industry. _Age Determination_