--- title: Report: 3 Million Whales Were Killed in the 20th Century description: Researchers call it "the largest hunt in human history" canonical: https://time.com/3744618/3-million-whales-killed/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-13T20:23:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:09:37.937Z article:section: Science og:title: Report: 3 Million Whales Were Killed in the 20th Century og:description: Researchers call it "the largest hunt in human history" og:url: https://time.com/3744618/3-million-whales-killed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecad7ea335fbde0a/6987838ccd1bbae6af6f5ad1/whale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4800 og:image:height: 2700 og:image:alt: Humpback whale og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Report: 3 Million Whales Were Killed in the 20th Century twitter:description: Researchers call it "the largest hunt in human history" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecad7ea335fbde0a/6987838ccd1bbae6af6f5ad1/whale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3 Million Whales Were Killed in the 20th Century > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Mar 13, 2015 8:23 PM UTC  Humpback Whale underwater portrait Humpback Whale underwater portrait Kate Westaway—Getty Images by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Mar 13, 2015 8:23 PM UTC Moby Dick got lucky. A total of nearly three million whales were killed in the 20th century, according to a new estimate—a number driven by rapid advances in hunting technology and illegal catches by nations like the Soviet Union. And the full number of whales killed may be even higher in what researchers call “the largest hunt in human history.” The study attempts to tally the number of whales that were killed as whaling transformed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from an enterprise carried out by men with rowboats to an industrialized effort capable of processing… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/3-million-whales-were-killed-20th-century-report-n322961) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3744618/3-million-whales-killed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3744618/3-million-whales-killed/"},"headline":"3 Million Whales Were Killed in the 20th Century","datePublished":"2015-03-13T20:23:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:09:37.937Z","description":"Researchers call it \"the largest hunt in human history\"","url":"https://time.com/3744618/3-million-whales-killed/","keywords":["animals","whaling"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecad7ea335fbde0a/6987838ccd1bbae6af6f5ad1/whale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecad7ea335fbde0a/6987838ccd1bbae6af6f5ad1/whale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Humpback whale","caption":"","creditText":"Kate Westaway—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3744618/3-million-whales-killed/","name":"3 Million Whales Were Killed in the 20th Century"}}]}] ```