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Gray whale

The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), also known as the grey whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9 m, a weight of up to 41 t and lives between 55 and 70 years, although one female was estimated to be 75–80 years of age. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called devil fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted. The gray whale is the sole living species in the genus Eschrichtius. It is the sole living genus in the family Eschrichtiidae, however some recent studies classify it as a member of the family Balaenopteridae. This mammal is descended from filter-feeding whales that appeared during the Neogene.

The gray whale is distributed in a Northeast Pacific (North American), and an endangered Northwest Pacific (Asian), population. North Atlantic populations were extirpated (perhaps by whaling) on the European coast before 500 CE, and on the American and African Atlantic coasts around the late 17th to early 18th centuries. However, in the 2010s and 2020s there have been rare sightings of gray whales in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, and even off South Atlantic coasts.

Taxonomy
The gray whale is traditionally placed as the only living species in its genus and family, Eschrichtius and Eschrichtiidae, but an extinct species was discovered and placed in the genus in 2017, the Akishima whale (E. akishimaensis). Some recent studies place gray whales as being outside the rorqual clade, but as the closest relatives to the rorquals. But other recent DNA analyses have suggested that certain rorquals of the family Balaenopteridae, such as the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, and fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, are more closely related to the gray whale than they are to some other rorquals, such as the minke whales. The American Society of Mammalogists has followed this classification.

John Edward Gray placed it in its own genus in 1865, naming it in honour of physician and zoologist Daniel Frederik Eschricht. The common name of the whale comes from its coloration. The subfossil remains of now extinct gray whales from the Atlantic coasts of England and Sweden were used by Gray to make the first scientific description of a species then surviving only in Pacific waters. The living Pacific species was described by Cope as Rhachianectes glaucus in 1869. Skeletal comparisons showed the Pacific species to be identical to the Atlantic remains in the 1930s, and Gray's naming has been generally accepted since. Although identity between the Atlantic and Pacific populations cannot be proven by anatomical data, its skeleton is distinctive and easy to distinguish from that of all other living whales.

Many other names have been ascribed to the gray whale, including desert whale, devilfish, gray back, mussel digger and rip sack. The name Eschrichtius gibbosus is sometimes seen; this is dependent on the acceptance of a 1777 description by Erxleben.

Taxonomic history
A number of 18th century authors described the gray whale as Balaena gibbosa, the "whale with six bosses", apparently based on a brief note by :

"The Scrag Whale is near a kin to the Fin-back, but instead of a Fin upon his Back, the Ridge of the Afterpart of his Back is cragged with half a Dozen Knobs or Nuckles; he is nearest the right Whale in Figure and for Quantity of Oil; his Bone is white, but won't split."

The gray whale was first described as a distinct species by based on a subfossil found in the brackish Baltic Sea, apparently a specimen from the now extinct north Atlantic population. Lilljeborg, however, identified it as "Balaenoptera robusta", a species of rorqual. realized that the rib and scapula of the specimen was different from those of any known rorquals, and therefore erected a new genus for it, Eschrichtius. were convinced that the bones described by Lilljeborg could not belong to a living species but that they were similar to fossils that Van Beneden had described from the harbour of Antwerp (most of his named species are now considered nomina dubia) and therefore named the gray whale Plesiocetus robustus, reducing Lilljeborg's and Gray's names to synonyms.

Charles Melville Scammon produced one of the earliest descriptions of living Pacific gray whales, and notwithstanding that he was among the whalers who nearly drove them to extinction in the lagoons of the Baja California Peninsula, they were and still are associated with him and his description of the species. At this time, however, the extinct Atlantic population was considered a separate species (Eschrischtius robustus) from the living Pacific population (Rhachianectes glaucus).

Things got increasingly confused as 19th century scientists introduced new species at an alarming rate (e.g. Eschrichtius pusillus, E. expansus, E. priscus, E. mysticetoides), often based on fragmentary specimens, and taxonomists started to use several generic and specific names interchangeably and not always correctly (e.g. Agalephus gobbosus, Balaenoptera robustus, Agalephus gibbosus). Things got even worse in the 1930s when it was finally realised that the extinct Atlantic population was the same species as the extant Pacific population, and the new combination Eschrichtius gibbosus was proposed.

Description
The gray whale has a dark slate-gray color and is covered by characteristic gray-white patterns, which are scars left by parasites that drop off in its cold feeding grounds. Individual whales are typically identified using photographs of their dorsal surface, matching the scars and patches associated with parasites that have either fallen off or are still attached. They have two blowholes on top of their head, which can create a distinctive heart-shaped blow at the surface in calm wind conditions.

Gray whales measure from 4.9 m in length for newborns to 13 - 15 m for adults (females tend to be slightly larger than adult males). Newborns are a darker gray to black in color. A mature gray whale can reach 40 t, with a typical range of 15 - 33 t, making them the ninth largest sized species of cetacean.

Notable features that distinguish the gray whale from other mysticetes include its baleen that is variously described as cream, off-white, or blond in color and is unusually short. Small depressions on the upper jaw each contain a lone stiff hair, but are only visible on close inspection. Its head's ventral surface lacks the numerous prominent furrows of the related rorquals, instead bearing two to five shallow furrows on the throat's underside. The gray whale also lacks a dorsal fin, instead bearing 6 to 12 dorsal crenulations ("knuckles"), which are raised bumps on the midline of its rear quarter, leading to the flukes. This is known as the dorsal ridge. The tail itself is 3 - 3.5 m across and deeply notched at the center while its edges taper to a point.

Pacific groups
The two populations of Pacific gray whales (east and west) are morphologically and phylogenically different. Other than DNA structures, differences in proportions of several body parts and body colors including skeletal features, and length ratios of flippers and baleen plates have been confirmed between Eastern and Western populations, and some claims that the original eastern and western groups could have been much more distinct than previously thought, enough to be counted as subspecies. Since the original Asian and Atlantic populations have become extinct, it is difficult to determine the unique features among whales in these stocks. However, there have been observations of some whales showing distinctive, blackish body colors in recent years. This corresponds with the DNA analysis of last recorded stranding in China. Differences were also observed between Korean and Chinese specimens.

North Pacific
Two Pacific Ocean populations are known to exist: one population that is very low, whose migratory route is presumed to be between the Sea of Okhotsk and southern Korea, and a larger one with a population of about 27,000 individuals in the eastern Pacific traveling between the waters off northernmost Alaska and Baja California Sur. Mothers make this journey accompanied by their calves, usually hugging the shore in shallow kelp beds, and fight viciously to protect their young if they are attacked, earning gray whales the moniker, devil fish.

The western population has had a very slow growth rate despite heavy conservation action over the years, likely due to their very slow reproduction rate. The state of the population hit an all-time low in 2010, when no new reproductive females were recorded, resulting in a minimum of 26 reproductive females being observed since 1995. Even a very small number of additional annual female deaths will cause the subpopulation to decline. However, as of 2018, evidence has indicated that the western population is markedly increasing in number, especially off Sakhalin Island. Following this, the IUCN downlisted the population's conservation status from critically endangered to endangered.

North Atlantic
The gray whale became extinct in the North Atlantic in the 18th century. They had been seasonal migrants to coastal waters of both sides of Atlantic, including the Baltic Sea, the Wadden Sea, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Bay of Fundy, Pamlico Sound and possibly Hudson Bay. Radiocarbon dating of subfossil or fossil European (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom) coastal remains confirms this, with whaling the possible cause for the poulation's extinction. Remains dating from the Roman epoch were found in the Mediterranean during excavation of the antique harbor of Lattara near Montpellier, France, in 1997, raising the question of whether Atlantic gray whales migrated up and down the coast of Europe from the Wadden Sea to calve in the Mediterranean. A 2018 study utilizing ancient DNA barcoding and collagen peptide matrix fingerprinting confirmed that Roman era whale bones east of the Strait of Gibraltar were gray whales (and North Atlantic right whales), confirming that gray whales once ranged into the Mediterranean. Similarly, radiocarbon dating of American east coastal subfossil remains confirm that gray whales existed there at least through the 17th century. This population ranged at least from Southampton, New York, to Jupiter Island, Florida, the latest from 1675. In his 1835 history of Nantucket Island, Obed Macy wrote that in the early pre-1672 colony a whale of the kind called "scragg" entered the harbor and was pursued and killed by the settlers. A. B. Van Deinse points out that the "scrag whale", described by P. Dudley in 1725 as one of the species hunted by the early New England whalers, was almost certainly the gray whale.

Since the 2010s, there have been occasional sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea, including one off the coast of Israel and one off the coast of Namibia. These were presumably migrants from the North Pacific population through the Arctic Ocean. A 2015 study of DNA from subfossil gray whales indicated that this may not be a historically unique event. That study suggested that over the past 100,000 years there have been several migrations of gray whales between the Pacific and Atlantic, with the most recent large scale migration of this sort occurring about 5,000 years ago. These migrations corresponded to times of relatively high temperatures in the Arctic Ocean. In 2021, one individual was seen in the port of Rabat, Morocco, followed by sightings in Algeria and Italy. In March 2024, New England Aquarium researchers photographed a gray whale 30 mi south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Prewhaling abundance
Researchers used a genetic approach to estimate pre-whaling abundance based on samples from 42 gray whales, and reported DNA variability at 10 genetic loci consistent with a population size of 76,000–118,000 individuals, three to five times larger than the average census size as measured through 2007. NOAA has collected surveys of gray whale population since at least the 1960s. They state that "the most recent population estimate [from 2007] was approximately 19,000 whales, with a high probability (88%) that the population is at 'optimum sustainable population' size, as defined by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. They speculate that the ocean ecosystem has likely changed since the prewhaling era, making a return to prewhaling numbers infeasible.  Factors limiting or threatening current population levels include ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and changes in sea-ice coverage associated with climate change.

Integration and recolonization
Several whales seen off Sakhalin and on Kamchatka Peninsula have been confirmed to migrate towards eastern side of Pacific and join the larger eastern population. In January 2011, a gray whale that had been tagged in the western population was tracked as far east as the eastern population range off the coast of British Columbia. Recent findings from either stranded or entangled specimens indicate that the original western population have become functionally extinct, and possibly all the whales that have appeared on Japanese and Chinese coasts in modern times are vagrants or re-colonizers from the eastern population.

In mid-1980, there were three gray whale sightings in the eastern Beaufort Sea, placing them 585 km further east than their known range at the time. Recent increases in sightings are confirmed in Arctic areas of the historic range for Atlantic stocks, most notably on several locations in the Laptev Sea including the New Siberian Islands in the East Siberian Sea, and around the marine mammal sanctuary of the Franz Josef Land, indicating possible earlier pioneers of re-colonizations. These whales were darker in body color than those whales seen in Sea of Okhotsk. In May 2010, a gray whale was sighted off the Mediterranean shore of Israel. It has been speculated that this whale crossed from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the Northwest Passage, since an alternative route around Cape Horn would not be contiguous to the whale's established territory. There has been gradual melting and recession of Arctic sea ice with extreme loss in 2007 rendering the Northwest Passage "fully navigable". The same whale was sighted again on May 30, 2010, off the coast of Barcelona, Spain.

In May 2013, a gray whale was sighted off Walvis Bay, Namibia. Scientists from the Namibian Dolphin Project confirmed the whale's identity and thus provides the only sighting of this species in the Southern Hemisphere. Photographic identification suggests that this is a different individual than the one spotted in the Mediterranean in 2010. As of July 2013, the Namibian whale was still being seen regularly.

In March 2021, a gray whale was sighted near Rabat, the capital of Morocco. In April, additional sightings were made off Algeria and Italy.

In December 2023, a gray whale was sighted off Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

Genetic analysis of fossil and prefossil gray whale remains in the Atlantic Ocean suggests several waves of dispersal from the Pacific to the Atlantic related to successive periods of climactic warming – during the Pleistocene before the last glacial period and the early Holocene immediately following the opening of the Bering Strait. This information and the recent sightings of Pacific gray whales in the Atlantic, suggest that another range expansion to the Atlantic may be starting.

Reproduction
Breeding behavior is complex and often involves three or more animals. Both male and female whales reach puberty between the ages of 6 and 12 with an average of eight to nine years. Females show highly synchronized reproduction, undergoing oestrus in late November to early December. During the breeding season, it is common for females to have several mates. This single ovulation event is believed to coincide with the species' annual migration patterns, when births can occur in warmer waters. Most females show biennial reproduction, although annual births have been reported. Males also show seasonal changes, experiencing an increase in testes mass that correlates with the time females undergo oestrus. Currently there are no accounts of twin births, although an instance of twins in utero has been reported.

The gestation period for gray whales is approximately 13 $1/2$ months, with females giving birth every one to three years. In the latter half of the pregnancy, the fetus experiences a rapid growth in length and mass. Similar to the narrow breeding season, most calves are born within a six-week time period in mid January. The calf is born tail first, and measures about 14–16 ft in length, and a weight of 2,000 lbs. Females lactate for approximately seven months following birth, at which point calves are weaned and maternal care begins to decrease. The shallow lagoon waters in which gray whales reproduce are believed to protect the newborn from sharks and orcas.

On 7 January 2014, a pair of newborn or aborted conjoined twin gray whale calves were found dead in the Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Scammon's Lagoon), off the west coast of Mexico. They were joined by their bellies.

Feeding
The whale feeds mainly on benthic crustaceans (such as amphipods and ghost shrimp), which it eats by turning on its side and scooping up sediments from the sea floor. This unique feeding selection makes gray whales one of the most strongly reliant on coastal waters among baleen whales. It is classified as a baleen whale and has baleen, or whalebone, which acts like a sieve, to capture small sea animals, including amphipods taken in along with sand, water and other material. Off Vancouver Island, gray whales commonly feed on shrimp-like mysids. When mysids are abundant gray whales are present in fairly large numbers. Despite mysids being a prey of choice, gray whales are opportunistic feeders and can easily switch from feeding planktonically to benthically. When gray whales feed planktonically, they roll onto their right side while their fluke remains above the surface, or they apply the skimming method seen in other baleen whales (skimming the surface with their mouth open). This skimming behavior mainly seems to be used when gray whales are feeding on crab larvae. Other prey items include polychaete worms, herring eggs, various forms of larvae, and small fish.

Gray whales feed benthically, by diving to the ocean floor and rolling on to their side, (like blue whales, gray whales seem to favor rolling onto their right side) and suck up prey from the sea floor. Gray whales seem to favor feeding planktonically in their feeding grounds, but benthically along their migration route in shallower water. Mostly, the animal feeds in the northern waters during the summer; and opportunistically feeds during its migration, depending primarily on its extensive fat reserves. Another reason for this opportunistic feeding may be the result of population increases, resulting in the whales taking advantage of whatever prey is available, due to increased competition. Feeding areas during migration seem to include the Gulf of California, Monterey Bay and Baja California Sur. Calf gray whales drink 50 - 80 lb of their mothers' 53% fat milk per day.

The main feeding habitat of the western Pacific subpopulation is the shallow (5 - 15 m depth) shelf off northeastern Sakhalin Island, particularly off the southern portion of Piltun Lagoon, where the main prey species appear to be amphipods and isopods. In some years, the whales have also used an offshore feeding ground in 30 - 35 m depth southeast of Chayvo Bay, where benthic amphipods and cumaceans are the main prey species. Some gray whales have also been seen off western Kamchatka, but to date all whales photographed there are also known from the Piltun area.

Diagram of the gray whale seafloor feeding strategy

Migration
Predicted distribution models indicate that overall range in the last glacial period was broader or more southerly distributed, and inhabitations in waters where species presences lack in present situation, such as in southern hemisphere and south Asian waters and northern Indian Ocean were possible due to feasibility of the environment on those days. Range expansions due to recoveries and re-colonization in the future is likely to happen and the predicted range covers wider than that of today. The gray whale undergoes the longest migration of any mammal.

Eastern Pacific population
Each October, as the northern ice pushes southward, small groups of eastern gray whales in the eastern Pacific start a two- to three-month, 8000 - 11000 km trip south. Beginning in the Bering and Chukchi seas and ending in the warm-water lagoons of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula and the southern Gulf of California, they travel along the west coast of Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Traveling night and day, the gray whale averages approximately 120 km per day at an average speed of 8 km/h. This round trip of 16000 - 22000 km is believed to be the longest annual migration of any mammal. By mid-December to early January, the majority are usually found between Monterey and San Diego such as at Morro bay, often visible from shore. The whale watching industry provides ecotourists and marine mammal enthusiasts the opportunity to see groups of gray whales as they migrate.

By late December to early January, eastern grays begin to arrive in the calving lagoons and bays on the west coast of Baja California Sur. The three most popular are San Ignacio, Magdalena Bay to the south, and, to the north, Laguna Ojo de Liebre (formerly known in English as Scammon's Lagoon after whaleman Charles Melville Scammon, who discovered the lagoons in the 1850s and hunted the grays).

Gray whales once ranged into Sea of Cortez and Pacific coasts of continental Mexico south to the Islas Marías, Bahía de Banderas, and Nayarit/Jalisco, and there were two modern calving grounds in Sonora (Tojahui or Yavaros) and Sinaloa (Bahia Santa Maria, Bahia Navachiste, La Reforma, Bahia Altata) until being abandoned in the 1980s.

These first whales to arrive are usually pregnant mothers looking for the protection of the lagoons to bear their calves, along with single females seeking mates. By mid-February to mid-March, the bulk of the population has arrived in the lagoons, filling them with nursing, calving and mating gray whales.

Throughout February and March, the first to leave the lagoons are males and females without new calves. Pregnant females and nursing mothers with their newborns are the last to depart, leaving only when their calves are ready for the journey, which is usually from late March to mid-April. Often, a few mothers linger with their young calves well into May. Whale watching in Baja's lagoons is particularly popular because the whales often come close enough to boats for tourists to pet them.

By late March or early April, the returning animals can be seen from Puget Sound to Canada.

Resident groups
A population of about 200 gray whales stay along the eastern Pacific coast from Canada to California throughout the summer, not making the farther trip to Alaskan waters. This summer resident group is known as the Pacific Coast feeding group.

Any historical or current presence of similar groups of residents among the western population is currently unknown, however, whalers' logbooks and scientific observations indicate that possible year-round occurrences in Chinese waters and Yellow and Bohai basins were likely to be summering grounds. Some of the better documented historical catches show that it was common for whales to stay for months in enclosed waters elsewhere, with known records in the Seto Inland Sea and the Gulf of Tosa. Former feeding areas were once spread over large portions on mid-Honshu to northern Hokkaido, and at least whales were recorded for majority of annual seasons including wintering periods at least along east coasts of Korean Peninsula and Yamaguchi Prefecture. Some recent observations indicate that historic presences of resident whales are possible: a group of two or three were observed feeding in Izu Ōshima in 1994 for almost a month, two single individuals stayed in Ise Bay for almost two months in the 1980s and in 2012, the first confirmed living individuals in Japanese EEZ in the Sea of Japan and the first of living cow-calf pairs since the end of whaling stayed for about three weeks on the coastline of Teradomari in 2014. One of the pair returned to the same coasts at the same time of the year in 2015 again. Reviewing on other cases on different locations among Japanese coasts and islands observed during 2015 indicate that spatial or seasonal residencies regardless of being temporal or permanental staying once occurred throughout many parts of Japan or on other coastal Asia.

Western population
The current western gray whale population summers in the Sea of Okhotsk, mainly off Piltun Bay region at the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island (Russian Federation). There are also occasional sightings off the eastern coast of Kamchatka (Russian Federation) and in other coastal waters of the northern Okhotsk Sea. Its migration routes and wintering grounds are poorly known, the only recent information being from occasional records on both the eastern and western coasts of Japan and along the Chinese coast. Gray whale had not been observed on Commander Islands until 2016. The northwestern pacific population consists of approximately 300 individuals, based on photo identification collected off of Sakhalin Island and Kamchatka.

The Sea of Japan was once thought not to have been a migration route, until several entanglements were recorded. Any records of the species had not been confirmed since after 1921 on Kyushu. However, there were numerous records of whales along the Genkai Sea off Yamaguchi Prefecture, in Ine Bay in the Gulf of Wakasa, and in Tsushima. Gray whales, along with other species such as right whales and Baird's beaked whales, were common features off the north eastern coast of Hokkaido near Teshio, Ishikari Bay near Otaru, the Shakotan Peninsula, and islands in the La Pérouse Strait such as Rebun Island and Rishiri Island. These areas may also have included feeding grounds. There are shallow, muddy areas favorable for feeding whales off Shiretoko, such as at Shibetsu, the Notsuke Peninsula, Cape Ochiishi on Nemuro Peninsula, Mutsu Bay, along the Tottori Sand Dunes, in the Suou-nada Sea, and Ōmura Bay.

The historical calving grounds were unknown but might have been along southern Chinese coasts from Zhejiang and Fujian Province to Guangdong, especially south of Hailing Island and to near Hong Kong. Possibilities include Daya Bay, Wailou Harbour on Leizhou Peninsula, and possibly as far south as Hainan Province and Guangxi, particularly around Hainan Island. These areas are at the southwestern end of the known range. It is unknown whether the whales' normal range once reached further south, to the Gulf of Tonkin. In addition, the existence of historical calving ground on Taiwan and Penghu Islands (with some fossil records and captures ), and any presence in other areas outside of the known ranges off Babuyan Islands in Philippines and coastal Vietnamese waters in Gulf of Tonkin are unknown. There is only one confirmed record of accidentally killing of the species in Vietnam, at Ngoc Vung Island off Ha Long Bay in 1994 and the skeleton is on exhibition at the Quang Ninh Provincial Historical Museum. Gray whales are known to occur in Taiwan Strait even in recent years.

It is also unknown whether any winter breeding grounds ever existed beyond Chinese coasts. For example, it is not known if the whales visited the southern coasts of the Korean Peninsula, adjacent to the Island of Jeju), Haiyang Island, the Gulf of Shanghai, or the Zhoushan Archipelago. There is no evidence of historical presence in Japan south of Ōsumi Peninsula; only one skeleton has been discovered in Miyazaki Prefecture.  once considered the Seto Inland Sea to be a historical breeding ground, but only a handful of capture records support this idea, although migrations into the sea have been confirmed. Recent studies using genetics and acoustics, suggest that there are several wintering sites for western gray whales such as Mexico and the East China sea. However, their wintering ground habits in the western North Pacific are still poorly understood and additional research is needed.

Recent migration in Asian waters
Even though South Korea put the most effort into conservation of the species among the Asian nations, there are no confirmed sightings along the Korean Peninsula or even in the Sea of Japan in recent years.

The last confirmed record in Korean waters was the sighting of a pair off Bangeojin, Ulsan in 1977. Prior to this, the last was of catches of 5 animals off Ulsan in 1966. There was a possible sighting of a whale within the port of Samcheok in 2015.

There had been 24 records along Chinese coasts including sighting, stranding, intended hunts, and bycatches since 1933. The last report of occurrence of the species in Chinese waters was of a stranded semi adult female in the Bohai Sea in 1996, and the only record in Chinese waters in the 21st century was of a fully-grown female being killed by entanglement in Pingtan, China in November, 2007. DNA studies indicated that this individual might have originated from the eastern population rather than the western.

Most notable observations of living whales after the 1980s were of 17 or 18 whales along Primorsky Krai in late October, 1989 (prior to this, a pair was reported swimming in the area in 1987), followed by the record of 14 whales in La Pérouse Strait on 13th, June in 1982 (in this strait, there was another sighting of a pair in October, 1987). In 2011, presences of gray whales were acoustically detected among pelagic waters in East China Sea between Chinese and Japanese waters.

Since the mid-1990s, almost all the confirmed records of living animals in Asian waters were from Japanese coasts. There have been eight to fifteen sightings and stray records including unconfirmed sightings and re-sightings of the same individual, and one later killed by net-entanglement. The most notable of these observations are listed below:

 * The feeding activities of a group of two or three whales that stayed around Izu Ōshima in 1994 for almost a month were recorded underwater by several researchers and whale photographers.
 * A pair of thin juveniles were sighted off Kuroshio, Kōchi, a renowned town for whale-watching tourism of resident and sub-resident populations of Bryde's whales, in 1997. This sighting was unusual because of the location on mid-latitude in summer time.
 * Another pair of sub-adults were confirmed swimming near the mouth of Otani River in Suruga Bay in May, 2003.
 * A sub-adult whale that stayed in the Ise and Mikawa Bay for nearly two months in 2012  was later confirmed to be the same individual as the small whale observed off Tahara near Cape Irago in 2010, making it the first confirmed constant migration out of Russian waters. The juvenile observed off Owase in Kumanonada Sea in 2009 might or might not be the same individual. The Ise and Mikawa Bay region is the only location along Japanese coasts that has several records since the 1980s (a mortal entanglement in 1968, above mentioned short-stay in 1982, self-freeing entanglement in 2005), and is also the location where the first commercial whaling started. Other areas with several sighting or stranding records in recent years are off the Kumanonada Sea in Wakayama, off  Oshika Peninsula in Tōhoku, and on coastlines close to Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
 * Possibly the first confirmed record of living animals in Japanese waters in the Sea of Japan since the end of whaling occurred on 3 April 2014 at Nodumi Beach, Teradomari, Niigata.  Two individuals, measuring ten and five metres respectively, stayed near the mouth of Shinano River for three weeks. It is unknown whether this was a cow-calf pair, which would have been a first record in Asia. All of the previous modern records in the Sea of Japan were of by-catches.
 * One of the above pair returned on the same beaches at the same time of a year in 2015.
 * A juvenile or possibly or not with another larger individual remained in Japanese waters between January or March and May 2015. It was first confirmed occurrences of the species on remote, oceanic islands in Japan. One or more visited waters firstly on Kōzu-shima and Nii-Jima for weeks then adjacent to Miho no Matsubara and behind the Tokai University campus for several weeks. Possibly the same individual was seen off Futo as well. This later was identified as the same individual previously recorded on Sakhalin in 2014, the first re-recording one individual at different Asian locations.
 * A young whale was observed by land-based fishermen at Cape Irago in March, 2015.
 * One of the above pair appeared in 2015 off southeastern Japan and then reappeared off Tateyama in January, 2016. The identity of this whale was confirmed by Nana Takanawa who photographed the same whale on Niijima in 2015. Likely the same individual was sighted off Futo and half an hour later off Akazawa beach in Itō, Shizuoka on the 14th.  The whale then stayed next to a pier on Miyake-jima and later at Habushi beach on Niijima, the same beach the same individual stayed near on the previous year.
 * One whale of 9 m was beached nearby Wadaura on March 4, 2016. Investigations on the corpse indicate that this was likely a different individual from the above animal.
 * A 7 m carcass of young female was firstly reported floating along Atami on 4 April then was washed ashore on Ito on the 6th.
 * As of April 20, 2017, one or more whale(s) have been staying within Tokyo Bay since February although at one point another whale if or if not the same individual sighted off Hayama, Kanagawa. It is unclear the exact number of whales included in these sightings; two whales reported by fishermen and Japanese coastal guard reported three whales on 20th or 21st.

Eastern population
Humans and orcas are the adult gray whale's only predators, although orcas are the more prominent predator. Aboriginal hunters, including those on Vancouver Island and the Makah in Washington, have hunted gray whales.

Commercial whaling by Europeans of the species in the North Pacific began in the winter of 1845–46, when two United States ships, the Hibernia and the United States, under Captains Smith and Stevens, caught 32 in Magdalena Bay. More ships followed in the two following winters, after which gray whaling in the bay was nearly abandoned because "of the inferior quality and low price of the dark-colored gray whale oil, the low quality and quantity of whalebone from the gray, and the dangers of lagoon whaling."

Gray whaling in Magdalena Bay was revived in the winter of 1855–56 by several vessels, mainly from San Francisco, including the ship Leonore, under Captain Charles Melville Scammon. This was the first of 11 winters from 1855 through 1865 known as the "bonanza period", during which gray whaling along the coast of Baja California reached its peak. Not only were the whales taken in Magdalena Bay, but also by ships anchored along the coast from San Diego south to Cabo San Lucas and from whaling stations from Crescent City in northern California south to San Ignacio Lagoon. During the same period, vessels targeting right and bowhead whales in the Gulf of Alaska, Sea of Okhotsk, and the Western Arctic would take the odd gray whale if neither of the more desirable two species were in sight.

In December 1857, Charles Scammon, in the brig Boston, along with his schooner-tender Marin, entered Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Jack-Rabbit Spring Lagoon) or later known as Scammon's Lagoon (by 1860) and found one of the gray's last refuges. He caught 20 whales. He returned the following winter (1858–59) with the bark Ocean Bird and schooner tenders A.M. Simpson and Kate. In three months, he caught 47 cows, yielding 1700 oilbbl of oil. In the winter of 1859–60, Scammon, again in the bark Ocean Bird, along with several other vessels, entered San Ignacio Lagoon to the south where he discovered the last breeding lagoon. Within only a couple of seasons, the lagoon was nearly devoid of whales.

Between 1846 and 1874, an estimated 8,000 gray whales were killed by American and European whalemen, with over half having been killed in the Magdalena Bay complex (Estero Santo Domingo, Magdalena Bay itself, and Almejas Bay) and by shore whalemen in California and Baja California. A second, shorter, and less intensive hunt occurred for gray whales in the eastern North Pacific. Only a few were caught from two whaling stations on the coast of California from 1919 to 1926, and a single station in Washington (1911–21) accounted for the capture of another. For the entire west coast of North America for the years 1919 to 1929, 234 gray whales were caught. Only a dozen or so were taken by British Columbian stations, nearly all of them in 1953 at Coal Harbour. A whaling station in Richmond, California, caught 311 gray whales for "scientific purposes" between 1964 and 1969. From 1961 to 1972, the Soviet Union caught 138 gray whales (they originally reported not having taken any). The only other significant catch was made in two seasons by the steam-schooner California off Malibu, California. In the winters of 1934–35 and 1935–36, the California anchored off Point Dume in Paradise Cove, processing gray whales. In 1936, gray whales became protected in the United States.

Western population
The Japanese began to catch gray whales beginning in the 1570s. At Kawajiri, Nagato, 169 gray whales were caught between 1698 and 1889. At Tsuro, Shikoku, 201 were taken between 1849 and 1896. Several hundred more were probably caught by American and European whalemen in the Sea of Okhotsk from the 1840s to the early 20th century. Whalemen caught 44 with nets in Japan during the 1890s. The real damage was done between 1911 and 1933, when Japanese whalemen killed 1,449 after Japanese companies established several whaling stations on Korean Peninsula and on Chinese coast such as near the Daya bay and on Hainan Island. By 1934, the western gray whale was near extinction. From 1891 to 1966, an estimated 1,800–2,000 gray whales were caught, with peak catches of between 100 and 200 annually occurring in the 1910s.

As of 2001, the Californian gray whale population had grown to about 26,000. As of 2016, the population of western Pacific (seas near Korea, Japan, and Kamchatka) gray whales was an estimated 200.

North Atlantic
The North Atlantic population may have been hunted to extinction in the 18th century. Circumstantial evidence indicates whaling could have contributed to this population's decline, as the increase in whaling activity in the 17th and 18th centuries coincided with the population's disappearance. A. B. Van Deinse points out the "scrag whale", described by P. Dudley in 1725, as one target of early New England whalers, was almost certainly the gray whale. In his 1835 history of Nantucket Island, Obed Macy wrote that in the early pre-1672 colony, a whale of the kind called "scragg" entered the harbor and was pursued and killed by the settlers. Gray whales (Icelandic sandlægja) were described in Iceland in the early 17th century. Formations of commercial whaling among the Mediterranean basin(s) have been considered to be feasible as well.

Conservation
Gray whales have been granted protection from commercial hunting by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) since 1949, and are no longer hunted on a large scale.

Limited hunting of gray whales has continued since that time, however, primarily in the Chukotka region of northeastern Russia, where large numbers of gray whales spend the summer months. This hunt has been allowed under an "aboriginal/subsistence whaling" exception to the commercial-hunting ban. Anti-whaling groups have protested the hunt, saying the meat from the whales is not for traditional native consumption, but is used instead to feed animals in government-run fur farms; they cite annual catch numbers that rose dramatically during the 1940s, at the time when state-run fur farms were being established in the region. Although the Soviet government denied these charges as recently as 1987, in recent years the Russian government has acknowledged the practice. The Russian IWC delegation has said that the hunt is justified under the aboriginal/subsistence exemption, since the fur farms provide a necessary economic base for the region's native population.

Currently, the annual quota for the gray whale catch in the region is 140 per year. Pursuant to an agreement between the United States and Russia, the Makah tribe of Washington claimed four whales from the IWC quota established at the 1997 meeting. With the exception of a single gray whale killed in 1999, the Makah people have been prevented from hunting by a series of legal challenges, culminating in a United States federal appeals court decision in December 2002 that required the National Marine Fisheries Service to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. On September 8, 2007, five members of the Makah tribe shot a gray whale using high-powered rifles in spite of the decision. The whale died within 12 hours, sinking while heading out to sea.

As of 2018, the IUCN regards the gray whale as being of least concern from a conservation perspective. However, the specific subpopulation in the northwest Pacific is regarded as being critically endangered. The northwest Pacific population is also listed as endangered by the U.S. government's National Marine Fisheries Service under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The IWC Bowhead, Right and Gray Whale subcommittee in 2011 reiterated the conservation risk to western gray whales is large because of the small size of the population and the potential anthropogenic impacts.

Gray whale migrations off of the Pacific Coast were observed, initially, by Marineland of the Pacific in Palos Verdes, California. The Gray Whale Census, an official gray whale migration census that has been recording data on the migration of the Pacific gray whale has been keeping track of the population of the Pacific gray whale since 1985. This census is the longest running census of the Pacific gray whale. Census keepers volunteer from December 1 through May, from sun up to sun down, seven days a week, keeping track of the amount of gray whales migrating through the area off of Los Angeles. Information from this census is listed through the American Cetacean Society of Los Angeles (ACSLA).

South Korea and China list gray whales as protected species of high concern. In South Korea, the was registered as the 126th national monument in 1962, although illegal hunts have taken place thereafter, and there have been no recent sightings of the species in Korean waters.

Rewilding proposal
In 2005, two conservation biologists proposed a plan to airlift 50 gray whales from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. They reasoned that, as Californian gray whales had replenished to a suitable population, surplus whales could be transported to repopulate the extinct British population. this plan has not been undertaken.

Threats
According to the Government of Canada's Management Plan for gray whales, threats to the eastern North Pacific population of gray whales include: increased human activities in their breeding lagoons in Mexico, climate change, acute noise, toxic spills, aboriginal whaling, entanglement with fishing gear, boat collisions, and possible impacts from fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

Western gray whales are facing large-scale offshore oil and gas development programs near their summer feeding grounds, as well as fatal net entrapments off Japan during migration, which pose significant threats to the future survival of the population. The substantial nearshore industrialization and shipping congestion throughout the migratory corridors of the western gray whale population represent potential threats by increasing the likelihood of exposure to ship strikes, chemical pollution, and general disturbance.

Offshore gas and oil development in the Okhotsk Sea within 20 km of the primary feeding ground off northeast Sakhalin Island is of particular concern. Activities related to oil and gas exploration, including geophysical seismic surveying, pipelaying and drilling operations, increased vessel traffic, and oil spills, all pose potential threats to western gray whales. Disturbance from underwater industrial noise may displace whales from critical feeding habitat. Physical habitat damage from drilling and dredging operations, combined with possible impacts of oil and chemical spills on benthic prey communities also warrants concern. The western gray whale population is considered to be endangered according to IUCN standards.

Along Japanese coasts, four females including a cow-calf pair were trapped and killed in nets in the 2000s. There had been a record of dead whale thought to be harpooned by dolphin-hunters found on Hokkaido in the 1990s. Meats for sale were also discovered in Japanese markets as well.

2019 has had a record number of gray whale strandings and deaths, with 122 strandings in United States waters and 214 in Canadian waters. The cause of death in some specimens appears to be related to poor nutritional condition. It is hypothesized that some of these strandings are related to changes in prey abundance or quality in the Arctic feeding grounds, resulting in poor feeding. Some scientists suggest that the lack of sea ice has been preventing the fertilization of amphipods, a main source of food for gray whales, so that they have been hunting krill instead, which is far less nutritious. More research needs to be conducted to understand this issue.

A recent study provides some evidence that solar activity is correlated to gray whale strandings. When there was a high prevalence of sunspots, gray whales were five times more likely to strand. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is that solar storms release a large amount of electromagnetic radiation, which disrupts Earth's magnetic field and/or the whale's ability to analyze it. This may apply to the other species of cetaceans, such as sperm whales. However, there is not enough evidence to suggest that whales navigate through the use of magnetoreception (an organism's ability to sense a magnetic field).

Orcas are "a prime predator of gray whale calves." Typically three to four orcas ram a calf from beneath in order to separate it from its mother, who defends it. Humpback whales have been observed defending gray whale calves from orcas. Orcas will often arrive in Monterey Bay to intercept gray whales during their northbound migration, targeting females migrating with newborn calves. They will separate the calf from the mother and hold the calf under water to drown it. The tactic of holding whales under water to drown them is certainly used by orcas on adult gray whales as well. It is roughly estimated that 33% of the gray whales born in a given year might be killed by predation.

Captivity
Because of their size and need to migrate, gray whales have rarely been held in captivity, and then only for brief periods of time. The first captive gray whale, who was captured in Scammon's Lagoon, Baja California in 1965, was named Gigi and died two months later from an infection. The second gray whale, who was captured in 1972 from the same lagoon, was named Gigi II and was released a year later after becoming too large for the facilities. The third gray whale, J.J., first beached herself in Marina del Rey, California where she was rushed to SeaWorld San Diego. After 14 months, she was released because she also grew too large to be cared for in the existing facilities. At 19,200 lbs and 31 ft when she was released, J.J. was the largest marine mammal ever to be kept in captivity.

title: Gray whale


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Jinn

Jinn, also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies, are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabia and later in Islamic culture and beliefs. Like humans, they are accountable for their deeds and can be either believers (Muslims) or disbelievers (kafir), depending on whether they accept God's guidance. Since jinn are neither innately evil nor innately good, Islam acknowledged spirits from other religions and could adapt them during its expansion. Jinn are not a strictly Islamic concept; they may represent several pagan beliefs integrated into Islam. To assert a strict monotheism and the Islamic concept of tawhid (oneness of God), Islam denies all affinities between the jinn and God, thus placing the jinn parallel to humans, also subject to God's judgment and afterlife. The Quran condemns the pre-Islamic Arabian practice of worshipping or seeking protection from them.

Although usually invisible, jinn are supposed to be composed of thin and subtle bodies (أَجْسَام), and can change at will. They favor a cockroach, snake form, but can also choose to appear as scorpions, lizards, or as humans. They may even engage in sexual affairs with humans and produce offspring. If they are injured by someone, they usually seek revenge or possess the assailant's body, requiring exorcism. Jinn rarely meddle in human affairs, preferring to live with their own kind in tribes similar to those of pre-Islamic Arabia.

Individual jinn appear on charms and talismans. They are called upon for protection or magical aid, often under the leadership of a king. Many people who believe in jinn wear amulets to protect themselves against the assaults of the jinn, sent out by sorcerers and witches. A commonly held belief maintains that jinn cannot hurt someone who wears something with the name of God written upon it. While some Muslim scholars in the past had ambivalent attitudes towards jinn, contemporary Muslim scholarship increasingly associate jinn with idolatry.

Etymology and translation
Jinn is an Arabic collective noun deriving from the Semitic root (جَنّ / جُنّ, jann), whose primary meaning is 'to hide' or 'to adapt'. Some authors interpret the word to mean, literally, 'beings that are concealed from the senses'. Cognates include the Arabic ' (مَجْنُون, 'possessed' or, generally, 'insane'), ' (جَنَّة, 'garden', 'eden' or 'heaven'), and  (جَنِين, 'embryo'). Jinn is properly treated as a plural (however in Classical Arabic, may also appear as jānn, جَانّ), with the singular being jinnī (جِنِّيّ). which the English word "genie" is derived from.

The origin of the word jinn remains uncertain. Some scholars relate the Arabic term jinn to the Latin genius – a guardian spirit of people and places in Roman religion – as a result of syncretism during the reign of the Roman empire under Tiberius and Augustus; however, this derivation is also disputed. Supporters argue that both Roman genii as well as Arabian jinn are considered to be lesser deities inhabiting local sanctuaries, trees or springs, and persons or families. Aramaic ginnaya with the meaning of 'tutelary deity'  or 'guardian' are attributed to similar functions and are another possible origin of the term jinn.

Another suggestion holds that the word is of Persian origin and appeared in the form of the Avestic Jaini, a wicked (female) spirit. Jaini were among various creatures in the possibly even pre-Zoroastrian mythology of peoples of Iran. Wensick advocates a purely Arabic origin of the term, asserting that according to the common Semitic view psychic and bodily affections are caused by spirits. An object reacting upon such an affect would be an incarnation of said spirit. Since these spirits are covered from the sight of humans, they would have been called jinn.

The anglicized form genie is a borrowing of the French génie, also from the Latin genius. It first appeared in 18th-century translations of the Thousand and One Nights from the French, where it had been used owing to its rough similarity in sound and sense and further applies to benevolent intermediary spirits, in contrast to the malevolent spirits called 'demon' and 'heavenly angels', in literature. In Assyrian art, creatures ontologically between humans and divinities are also called genie.

Though not a precise fit, descriptive analogies that have been used for these beings in Western thought include demon, spirit, "sprite", and fairy, depending on source. In turn, the Arabic translation for the Greek Nymph ('arūsa) is also used for jinn by Middle Eastern sources. Although the term spirit is frequently used, it has been criticised for not capturing the corporeal nature of the jinn, and that the term genie should be used instead.

Pre-Islamic era
The exact origins of belief in jinn are not entirely clear. Belief in jinn in the pre-Islamic Arab religion is testified not only by the Quran, but also by pre-Islamic literature in the seventh century. Some scholars of the Middle East hold that they originated as malevolent spirits residing in deserts and unclean places, who often took the forms of animals; others hold that they were originally pagan nature deities who gradually became marginalized as other deities took greater importance.

Fear and veneration
Jinn were already worshipped by many Arabs during the Pre-Islamic period. Julius Wellhausen observed that jinn were often thought to "inhabit or haunt desolate, dark and dingy places in the desert". For that reason, they were held responsible for various diseases and mental illnesses. Emilie Savage-Smith asserts that malicious jinn and good gods were distinct in pre-Islamic Arabia, but admits that such distinction is not absolute. In the regions north to the Hejaz, Palmyra and Baalbek, the terms jinni and ilah (deity) were often used interchangeably. Julius Wellhausen likewise agrees that in pre-Islamic Arabia it was assumed there are at least some friendly and helpful beings among the jinn. He distinguishes between a god and a jinni, not on the basis of morality, but on the basis of worship; the jinn are worshipped in private while the gods are worshipped in public.

Al-Jahiz credits the pre-Islamic Arabs with believing that the society of jinn constitutes several tribes and groups, analogous to pre-Islamic Arabian culture. Jinn could also protect, marry, kidnap, possess, and kill people. Despite being invisible, jinn are considered to have bodies (ajsām), as described by Zakariya al-Qazwini, they are among animals, along with humans, burdened beasts (like horses), cattles, wild beasts, birds, and reptiles. Jinn are further known as shapeshifters, often assuming the form of an animal, favoring the form of a snake. Other chthonic animals regarded as forms of jinn include scorpions and lizards. Both scorpions and serpents have been venerated in the ancient Near East.

When they shift into a human form however, they are said to stay partly animal and are not fully human. Although the power of jinn usually exceed those of humans, it is conceivable a man could kill a jinni in single combat, but they are feared for attacking without being seen. Some sources even speak of killed jinn leaving behind a carcass similar to either a serpent or a scorpion.

Poetry and Soothsaying
Despite that they were often feared or inspired awe, the jinn were also pictured to befriend humans or have romantic feelings for them. According to common Arabian belief, soothsayers, pre-Islamic philosophers, and poets were inspired by the jinn.

The Arabian poet al-Aʿshā (d. after 3/625) is said to got his inspiration for his poetry by a friend named Misḥal ("daʿawtu khalīlī Misḥalan") and further calls him his jinni-brother ("akhī ʾl-jinnī"). Similarly, the poet Thābit (d. 54/674) who later converted to Islam and became known as "the poet of the prophet", referred to his jinni-friend as his "sharp-sighted brother from the jinn" ("wa-akhī min al-jinn al-baṣīr"). The relationship between jinn and humans can also be romantic in nature. According to one famous Arabian story, the jinni Manzur fell in love with a human woman called Habbah. He is supposed to have taught her the arts of healing. The mutual relationship between jinn and humans is different than that of a jinni and a soothsayer (kāhin). The soothsayer is presented as someone who is totally controlled by the jinni entering. The soothsayer was consulted to reveal hidden information or settle disputes, as it was believed, the jinn speaking through them reveal hidden knowledge.

Quran

Jinn are mentioned approximately 29 times in the Quran, exclusively in Meccan surahs. The Quran assumes that the audience is familiar with the subject without elaborating on the jinn much further. According to the, Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both human and jinn communities, and prophets and messengers were sent to both communities.

Throughout the Quran, humans and jinn (al-ins wa-l-jinn) appear frequently as a pair, designating their equal status in regards of their creation and rejecting that jinn share divinity with the Creator. The term ins derives from anisa, which means "to be familiar with", and refers to recognisable familiar human beings. In contrast, the term jinn refers to foreign, invisible, or unknown anthropomorphic beings, which are nonetheless subject to the same considerations as the former. They were both created to worship God. Because they are supposed to worship God from free will, they are both able for good and evil deeds. They are, like humans, rational beings formed of nations.

Surah al-jinn is about the revelation to jinn. The same Surah mentions righteous jinn on one hand, and malicious jinn on the other. The jinn can neither harm nor benefit humans, for they are occupied with looking after themselves and their own place in the cosmos. This is in notable contrast to demons and devils in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Quran does not condemn the jinn as a source of harm, but by mistaking them for beings deserving cultic veneration. Jinn and humans are blamed for ascribing divine attributes to another creature (i.e. jinn); jinn to themselves and humans to the jinn.

In the Quranic account, despite their similarities, there are important differences between the two species. Whereas humans are made from "clay" or "dirt", jinn were created from "smokeless fire", which is possibly the reason why they are credited with some extraordinary abilities, such as invisibility, transformation, and ascending into the air like devils. Despite some superhuman powers, the jinn occupy no fundamentally different position in the Quran than humans. Like humans, the jinn have no knowledge of the future. Like humanity, jinn face epistemic limitations regarding "the hidden/occult", have to rely on God's messengers, and face eschatological judgement.

Exegesis
In Quranic interpretation, the term jinn can be used in two different ways:

 * 1) a specific invisible being, offspring of abu Jann considered to be, along with humans, thaqalān (accountable for their deeds), created out of "fire and air" (مَارِجٍ مِن نَّار, mārijin min nār).
 * 2) any object that cannot be detected by human sensory organs, including angels, devils, and the (spiritual) interior of human beings.

Belief in jinn is not included among the six articles of Islamic faith, as belief in angels is. Nonetheless, many Muslim scholars, including the Hanbalī scholar ibn Taymiyya and the Ẓāhirī scholar ibn Hazm, believe they are essential to the Islamic faith since they are mentioned in the Quran. It is generally accepted by the majority of Muslim scholars that jinn can possess individuals. This is considered to be part of the doctrines (aqidah) of the "people of the Sunnah" (ahl as-sunnah wal-jammah'a) in the tradition of Ash'ari. The Atharī scholars ibn Taimiyya and ibn Qayyim agree on this matter. From among the Sunni schools of theology, only the Māturīdīs seems to debate possession. Al-Rustughfanī deemed jinn-possession impossible.

Al-Māturīdī focuses on the dynamics between jinn and humans based on. He states that seeking refuge among the jinn increases fear and anxiety, however, not because of the jinn, but due to the psychological dependence of the individual towards external powers. By that, he refers to seeking refuge among the jinn as a form of širk, due to the reliance on a created thing instead of God.

Although jinn frequently appear in hagiographic Sufi literature and their existence is never doubted, they do not play any major role in Sufi cosmology. Because of their similarities to humans, they function neither as a model to follow (like angels) nor tempters of the lower self (like Satan) and mostly feature in poetic anecdotes.

Jurisprudence
The jinn are obligated to follow the divine law (sharīʿa), as derived from the Quran by Muslim jurists (faqīh). Thus, the jinn are considered, along with humans, to be mukallāf. Believers among the jinn are called "Muslim jinn" (muslimū l-jinn).

Since both creations must perform the required prayers (salah), Muslim jurists debated if one is allowed to perform the prayer behind a jinni. Shibli cites two Hanbalite scholars who regard this as permissible without hesitation. Since Muhammad was sent to jinn and humans, both are mukallāf and subject to the command to pray.

Because humans and jinn are capable of procreation, Muslim jurists dealt with the issue of permissibility of intercourse between these two types of creatures. Some Ḥadīths, though considered fabricated (mawḍūʻ) by some muhaddith (hadith scholars), pushed the necessity for an explanation: "'The Hour will come when the children of jinn will become many among you.'" "'Among you are those who are expatriated (mugharrabûn);' and this, he explained, meant 'crossed with jinn.'"

Although there are recorded cases between human-jinn relationships most Muslim jurists agree that such a relationship is not permissible. Even those scholars who allowed such relationships, still considered them undesirable (makruh). Offspring of human-jinn relationships are nonetheless, usually considered to be gifted and talented people with special abilities.

Folklore
The jinn (also known as: Xhindi, Cin, Чорт) were adopted by later Islamic culture, since the Quran affirms their existence. Although depictions are categorized into little tradition (folklore) and greater tradition (official Islam) for research purposes, both depictions are largely the same.

The Quran does not consider foreign mythological beings to be devils, but entities erroneously ascribed divine power to. Therefore, jinn were considered a third class of invisible beings, often neutral or morally ambiguous, not consequently equated with devils. Islam allowed to integrate local beliefs about spirits and deities from Iran, Africa, Turkey and India, into a monotheistic framework without demonizing them. Thus, they exist alongside other mythological entities, such as demons (Dēw) and fairies (parī).

The moral attitude of the jinn is usually associated with their religion. Good jinn are usually considered Muslim jinn or jinn Islam, whereas unbelieving jinn were tempted by the devils (shayatin) and are called kāfir jinn or jinn kāfir. Besides Islam, they could also practise Christianity and Judaism. Good jinn might teach people moral lessons and might be benevolent, or aid spiritual persons, such as shamans (kam) in Central Asia, or spiritual healers in Senegal.

Most of the time, jinn are believed not to interfere with humans and live mostly in desolate or abandoned places. This is, for example, evident from the Turkish phrase İn Cin top oynuyor. It is only when they are angered or disturbed, for example, if their children are trodden upon or hot water is thrown on them, that they take revenge on humans. For this reason, Muslims utter "destur" (permission), before doing something which might accidentally hurt jinn, such as sprinkling hot water on public grounds or into bushes, so present jinn are advised to leave the place.

Angered or straightforwardly evil mannered jinn, could hurt people by inflicting physical damage, causing illness, or taking control over a human's body. A human, however, cannot be controlled by jinn at any time. The individual needs to be in a state of dha'iyfah (Arabic: ضَعِيفَة, "(mental) weakness"). Feelings of insecurity, mental instability, unhappy love and depression (being "tired from the soul") are forms of dha'iyfah. In that case, it is believed that an exorcism is required to save the person from the assaulting jinni. To protect oneself from jinn, many Muslims wear amulets with the name of God graved on. Jinn are also said to be scared of iron and wolves.

Post-modern literature and movies

Jinn feature in the magical realism genre, introduced into Turkish literature by Latife Tekin (1983), who uses magical elements known from pre-Islamic and Islamic Anatolian lore. Since the 1980s, this genre has become prominent in Turkish literature. The story by Tekin deals with folkloric and religious belief in a rationalized society.

Contrary to the neutral to positive depiction of jinn in Tekin's novels, since 2004 jinn have become a common trope in Middle Eastern horror movies. The presentation of jinn usually combines Quranic with oral and cultural beliefs about jinn. Out of 89 films, 59 have direct references to jinn as the antagonist, 12 use other sorts of demons, while other types of horror, such as the impending apocalypse, hauntings, or ghosts, constitute only 14 films. The popularity of jinn as a choice of monster can best be explained by their affirmation in the Quran. They are still a popular trope today. A study from 2020 shows that jinn are still the favorite Horror element among teenagers. Jinn further feature in Iranian horror movies.

Prevalence of belief
Though discouraged by some teachings of modern Islam, cultural beliefs about jinn remain popular among Muslim societies and their understanding of cosmology and anthropology. Affirmation on the existence of jinn as sapient creatures living along with humans is still widespread in the Middle Eastern world and West Africa. Mental illnesses are still often attributed to jinn possession. In modern Iran, (evil) jinn are often substituted by devils. Similarly, in many modern tales, the term jinn is used for div (demon), causing a shift in meaning. Nonetheless, belief in jinn remains popular.

According to a survey undertaken by the Pew Research Center in 2012:

The amount of Muslims believing in jinn from Bosnia and Herzegovina is higher than the general European average (30%), although only 21% believe in sorcery and 13% would wear talisman for protection against jinn; 12% support offerings and appeal given to the jinn.

Sleep paralysis is understood as a "jinn attack" by many sleep paralysis sufferers in Egypt, as discovered by a Cambridge neuroscience study Jalal, Simons-Rudolph, Jalal, & Hinton (2013). The study found that as many as 48% of those who experience sleep paralysis in Egypt believe it to be an assault by the jinn. Almost all of these sleep paralysis sufferers (95%) would recite verses from the Quran during sleep paralysis to prevent future "jinn attacks". In addition, some (9%) would increase their daily Islamic prayer (ṣalāh) to get rid of these assaults by jinn. Sleep paralysis is generally associated with great fear in Egypt, especially if believed to be supernatural in origin.

Similarly, European patients with a Muslim background often attribute mental illnesses to jinn. Most common attributations to jinn are symptoms of hallucination and psychotic symptoms, but can also include mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Capgras syndrome, and epilepsy. It has been noted that not all Muslims who believe in jinn, believe they can possess people. Furthermore, belief in possession is not limited to Muslims. Contrary to the assumption that higher education is proportional to disenchantment, belief in jinn-possession may remain intact even after medical graduation.

Visual art
Although there are very few visual representations of jinn in Islamic art, when they do appear, it is usually related to a specific event or individual jinn.

Visual representations of jinn appear in manuscripts and their existence is often implied in works of architecture by the presence of apotropaic devices like serpents, which were intended to ward off evil spirits. Lastly, King Solomon is illustrated very often with jinn as the commander of an army that included them.

Architectural representation
In addition to these representations of jinn in vicinity to kingship, there were also architectural references to jinn throughout the Islamic world. In the Citadel of Aleppo, the entrance gate Bab al-Hayyat made reference to jinn in the stone relief carvings of serpents; likewise, the water gate at Ayyubid Harran housed two copper sculptures of jinn, serving as talismans to ward off both snakes and evil jinn in the form of snakes.

Alongside these depictions of the jinn found at the Aleppo Citadel, depictions of the jinn can be found in the Rūm Seljuk palace. There are a phenomenal range of creatures that can be found on the eight-pointed tiles of the Seal of Sulaymān device. Among these were the jinn, that belonged among Solomon's army and as Solomon claimed to have control over the jinn, so did the Rūm Seljuk sultan that claimed to be the Sulaymān of his time. In fact, one of the most common representations of jinn are alongside or in association with King Solomon. It was thought that King Solomon had very close ties to the jinn, and even had control over many of them. The concept that a great and just ruler has the ability to command jinn was one that extended far past only King Solomon– it was also thought that emperors, such as Alexander the Great, could control an army of jinn in a similar way. Given this association, Jinn were often seen with Solomon in a princely or kingly context, such as the small, animal-like jinn sitting beside King Solomon on his throne illustrated in an illuminated manuscript of Aja'ib al-Makhluqat by Zakariya al-Qazwini, written in the 13th century.

In the Kitāb al-Bulhān
In the Book of Wonders compiled in the 14th century by Abd al-Hasan al-Isfahani, there are illustrations of various supernatural beings (demons, ʿafārīt, jinn, the evil eye, devils, lilith, celestial spirits, etc.).

Each celestial spirits is referred to as a "King of the Jinn", represented alongside his spiritual helpers and alongside the corresponding talismanic symbols. For instance, the 'Red King of Tuesday' was depicted in the Book of Wonders as a sinister form astride a lion. In the same illustration, he holds a severed head and a sword, because the 'Red King of Tuesday' was aligned with Mars, the god of war. Alongside that, there were illustrations of the 'Gold King' and the 'White King'.

Aside from the seven 'Kings of the Jinn', the Book of Wonders included an illustration of Huma (Arabic: حمى), or the 'Fever'. Huma was depicted as three-headed and as embracing the room around him, in order to capture someone and bring on a fever in them.

Talismanic representation
The jinn had an indirect impact on Islamic art through the creation of talismans that were alleged to guard the bearer from the jinn and were enclosed in leather and included Qur'anic verses. It was not unusual for those talismans to be inscribed with separated Arabic letters, because the separation of those letters was thought to positively affect the potency of the talisman overall. An object that was inscribed with the word of Allah was thought to have the power to ward off evil from the person who obtained the object, though many of these objects also had astrological signs, depictions of prophets, or religious narratives.

Magical practises
Jinn might be invoked, along with demons and devils, for means of sorcery, incantation, protection, or divination. Soothsayers (kāhin) are credited with the ability to ask jinn about things of the past, since their lives are believed to last longer than that of humans.

Common beliefs regarding sorcery and commanding jinn are attested in ibn al-Nadim's Kitāb al-Fihrist. Since he locates such practises not as a branch of science or philosophy, but rather in a chapter about stories and fables, the author might not have believed in the efficiency on sorcery himself. He reports that the art of commanding jinn and demons is traced back to Solomon and Jamshid. The first who would have practised a lawful method of incantation is supposed to be Abū Naṣr Aḥmad b. Hilāl. Ibn Nadim explains lawful and unlawful subjugating of jinn and demons as distinct: While the former controls the jinn by the power of God's divine names, the latter pleases demons and devils by prohibited offerings and sinful acts. Al-Jāḥiẓ is another author who tells about another man allegedly controlling jinn and demons: In the Umayyad period, ibn Hilāl is said to have the power to summon demons and jinn. He further claimed to have married a daughter of Satan and begotten a child.

There is evidence that subjugation of spirits, jinn, and demons, was also cultivated by various Islamic authorities. Al-Ṭabasī, who was considered a reliable muḥadīth (scholar of ḥadīth) and pious ascetic, wrote an extensive treatise (al-Shāmil fī al-baḥr al-kāmil) on subjugating demons and jinn. According to Zakariya al-Qazwini, it was well known that jinn obeyed al-Ṭabasī. He gives an example, that al-Ṭabasī demonstrated the jinn to the famous scholar Ghazālī, who saw them as shadows on the wall. He professes that jinn only obey when the individual turns away from the temptations of creation and devoting oneself towards God. The al-Shāmil gives detailed instructions for preparations of various incantations. Unlike, for example in the writings of al-Razi, the al-Shāmil has no direct link to Hellenistic or Hermetic magic or philosophy. Magic was also used in the Ottoman Empire as evident from the Talismanic shirts of Murad III.

Related to the occult traditions in Islamic culture is the belief in the "Seven kings of the Week", also known as rūḥāiya ulia (higher spirits; angels) and rūḥāiya sufula (lower spirits; demons). These beings are, for example, invoked for the preparation of Magic squares. This belief is attested by the Book of Wonders. It contains artistic depictions of several supernatural beings (demons, jinn, the evil eye, fever (Huma, Arabic: حمى), devils, lilith, etc.). Some of these beings indicate that the work connects Hebrew, Christian, and Islamic magical traditions. The original work is attributed to al-Bakhi, who founded a system of astrological magic based on Neo-Platonic thought. Although many pages are damaged, it is possible to reconstruct their meanings from Ottoman copies. Each king is depicted with helpers and associated talismanic symbols.

Comparative mythology

In Comparative mythology, scholars discuss the relationship between Islamic notions of jinn and earlier Jewish and Christian ideas of supernatural beings or preternatural creatures, especially those of angels, spirits, and demons. One question has concerned the degree to Quranic jinn might be compared to fallen angels in Christian traditions, although issues with this view are that jinn are not identified as "angels" and that descriptions of angels do not involve their flying up the sky to eavesdrop on heavenly secrets (unlike jinn who do so in Surah 72). Patricia Crone notes that, like jinn, the demons of the Testament of Solomon ascend to the firmament and eavesdrop on heavenly secrets; as did demons of Zoroastrian cosmology, who in addition encounter a heavenly defense systems (as did Islamic jinn). Similar statements are also found in the Talmud (Berakhot 18b) and the 8th-century Scolion of Theodore bar Konai.

Counterparts to Quranic jinn have been identified in the Book of Jubilees, where spirits created by God, associated with fire, having an identified leader (Mastema), may either aid or harm humans, and suffer a similar fate as the jinn. The Shedim of the Tanakh are said to resemble jinn. Like jinn, among a class of beings of Jewish mythology/belief (jnun, shedim, etc.), there is a tradition of ritual exorcism and negotiations that differs from that of traditional Jewish cure of spirit possession associated with ghosts (Dybbuk).

Jinn have also been compared to preternatural beings called gny' in inscriptions from Palmyra as well as broader late antique demonologies.

As with asuras in Buddhism, jinn have free will and can choose paths of good or bad moral lives.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Jinn


text:
Talk:Grover's algorithm/Archive 1

My understanding is that Grover's algorithm still takes exponential time to solve NP-complete problems. The solution will be much faster than a naive brute force solution on a conventional computer, but not necessarily faster than a smart algorithm on a conventional computer. Is this correct?

 * Yes, AFAIK -- CYD

I added a sentence to that effect.

I have another question: the article claims that Us is a reflection about s, which I take to mean a reflection about the line through s, and this is correct. But Uω is not a reflection about ωx in the same sense. For the operator V to be a reflection about the vector w, we need to have Vw = w and Vx = -x whenever w and x are orthogonal. Uω doesn't have that property; it is a reflection at the plane spanned by all x≠ω. --AxelBoldt

 * Yup. For vectors in the plane, it acts as a reflection about ωx, which is what we want. That was a rather misleading statement. I've fixed it up; check if you agree now. Thanks :-) -- CYD

title: Talk:Grover's algorithm/Archive 1


text:
Gallurese

Gallurese (gadduresu) is a Romance dialect of the Italo-Dalmatian family spoken in the region of Gallura, northeastern Sardinia. Gallurese is variously described as a distinct southern dialect of Corsican or transitional language of the dialect continuum between Corsican and Sardinian. "Gallurese International Day" (Ciurrata Internaziunali di la Linga Gadduresa) takes place each year in Palau (Sardinia) with the participation of orators from other areas, including Corsica.

Gallurese is generally considered a southern Corsican dialect, sharing close resemblance in morphology and vocabulary with the dialects of Sartene and Porto-Vecchio on Corsica, whereas its phonology and syntax are similar to those of Sardinian. One third of Gallurese vocabulary is also influenced by Logudorese Sardinian, Catalan, and Spanish.

The Sassarese dialect, spoken in the area of Sassari, shares similar transitional traits between Tuscan, Corsican and Sardinian but, in comparison with Gallurese, is definitely closer to the Logudorese dialects of Sardinian.

History
The most ancient literary sources in Gallurese date back to the early 17th century, mainly as poetry and religious odes. Some late Middle Age fragments suggest that the formation of the language could be dated to the early 15th century. The origin and the development of Gallurese are debated. Max Leopold Wagner and Maurice Le Lannou argued that successive migration waves from Southern Corsica, promoted under the Aragonese rule to repopulate an area devastated by famine and pandemics, were crucial in the formation of a transitional language.

Typical constitutional elements of Gallurese

 * the plural form of nouns in -i (ghjanni or polti 'doors') are like in Corsican and Italian, and not as in -s like in Sardinian (jannas, portas), French, Spanish, Catalan, etc.
 * Latin 'll' has become -dd- (like casteddu, coraddu 'castle', 'coral'), the same as in Sardinian, southern Corsican and Sicilian (but castellu, corallu in northern Corsican);
 * -r- modified to -l- (poltu 'port', while portu in Corsican and Sardinian);
 * -chj- and -ghj- sounds (ghjesgia 'church', occhji 'eyes'), like in Corsican, while Sardinian is cresia, ogros.
 * articles lu, la, li, like in ancient Corsican dialects (u, a, i in modern Corsican, su, sa, sos, sas in Sardinian);

Relation to Corsican
Gallurese is classified by some linguists as a dialect of Corsican,  and by others as a dialect of Sardinian. In any case, a great deal of similarity exists between Southern Corsican dialects and Gallurese, while there is relatively more distance from the neighbouring Sardinian varieties.

Concluding the debate speech, the Sardinian linguist Mauro Maxia stated as follows: "From a historical and geographic point of view, Gallurese might be classed either under Corsican or Sardinian, in light of its presence specific to Sardinia for the last six-seven centuries. From a linguistic point of view, Gallurese might be defined as:

 * Predominantly Corsican on a phono-morphological level;
 * Predominantly Sardinian on a syntactic level;
 * Predominantly Corsican on a lexical level, with a lot of Sardinian, Catalan, and Spanish words, making up around 1/3 of the total vocabulary.

Gallurese is less Corsican than many scholars make it out to be. What makes Gallurese a different language from Corsican, rather than a Corsican dialect, are many grammatical features, especially related to syntax, and the significant number of Sardinian, Catalan and Spanish loanwords.

It can be therefore claimed that, from a grammatical and lexical point of view, Gallurese is a transitional language between Corsican and Sardinian."

The Regional Government of Sardinia has recognized Gallurese, along with Sassarese as separate languages, distinct from Sardinian.

Sample of text
An excerpt from a hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

title: Gallurese


text:
Gary Busey

William Gary Busey (born June 29, 1944) is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. His other starring roles include A Star is Born (1976), D.C. Cab (1983), Silver Bullet (1985), Eye of the Tiger (1986), Lethal Weapon (1987), Hider in the House (1989), Predator 2 (1990), Point Break (1991), Under Siege (1992), The Firm (1993), Drop Zone (1994), Black Sheep (1996) and Lost Highway (1997).

Early life
William Gary Busey was born in Goose Creek, Texas. While he was in fourth grade, Busey moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he later attended Bell Junior High School, then attended and graduated from Nathan Hale High School. Busey attended Coffeyville Community College before attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, on a football scholarship, where he became interested in acting. After a knee injury, he then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to study theater. He quit school just one unit short of graduation.

Early career
Busey began his show business career as a drummer in The Rubber Band. He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the name "Teddy Jack Eddy" a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting on station KTUL (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). For his skits on Uncanny Film Festival, Busey drew on his American Hero, belligerent, know-it-all character. When he told Gailard Sartain his character needed a name, Sartain replied, "Take three: Teddy, Jack and Eddy."

He played in a band called Carp, which released one album on Epic Records in 1969. Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley", he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the third-to-last episode, No. 633 – "The Busters").

Rise to prominence
In 1974, Busey played Truckie Wheeler in the ABC television comedy The Texas Wheelers. During that same year he made his major film debut with a supporting role in Michael Cimino's buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges.

In 1976, he was hired by Barbra Streisand and her producer-boyfriend Jon Peters to play Bobby Ritchie, road manager to Kris Kristofferson's character in the remake film A Star is Born. On the DVD commentary of the film, Streisand says Busey was great and that she had seen him on a TV series and thought he had the right qualities to play the role.

In 1978, he starred as rock legend Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. For his performance, Busey received the greatest critical acclaim of his career and the movie earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and the National Society of Film Critics' Best Actor award for him. In the same year he also starred in the small yet acclaimed drama Straight Time and the surfing movie Big Wednesday, which is now a minor cult classic.

Mid-career
In the 1980s, Busey's films included the critically acclaimed western Barbarosa, the comedies D.C. Cab and Insignificance, and the Stephen King adaptation Silver Bullet. He played one of the primary antagonists opposite Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the action comedy Lethal Weapon.

In the 1990s, he had prominent supporting roles in successful action films such as Predator 2, Point Break and Under Siege. He also appeared in Rookie of the Year, The Firm, Black Sheep, Lost Highway, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in 1979 (season 4, episode 14), and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.

In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and later reprised the role in the prequel Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006. In 2003, he starred in a Comedy Central reality show, I'm with Busey. In 2005, he also voiced himself in an episode of The Simpsons and appeared in the popular miniseries Into the West. Busey controversially appeared in the 2006 Turkish nationalist film Valley of the Wolves: Iraq (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak), which was accused of fascism, anti-Americanism, and antisemitism.

Busey starred in the horror film The Gingerdead Man (2005) as the titular character and crazed killer Millard Findlemeyer. In 2007, he appeared as himself in a prominent recurring role on HBO's Entourage, in which he parodied his eccentric image, ultimately appearing on three episodes of the show. In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. In 2009, Busey appeared as a roaster at the Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy.

Later work
In a series of 2010 YouTube advertisements for Vitamin Water, Busey appeared as Norman Tugwater, a lawyer who defends professional athletes' entitlements to a cut from Fantasy Football team owners. Busey returned to reality television on Celebrity Apprentice 4 in 2011, and appeared again in Celebrity Apprentice 6. There, he briefly reprised his role as Buddy Holly by performing "Not Fade Away".

In 2014, he became a celebrity spokesperson for Amazon Fire TV. Also that year, he appeared in, and became the first American winner of Celebrity Big Brother 14. In 2015, he competed on the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with professional dancer Anna Trebunskaya. Busey and Trebunskaya made it to Week 4 of competition but were then eliminated and finished in 10th place.

In 2019, Busey starred as God in the Off-Broadway musical Only Human at the Theatre at St. Clements in New York. The plot of Only Human is described as follows: "Before they were enemies, they were co-workers. Jesus and Lucifer never saw eye-to-eye, but when an extreme case of creative differences gets the best of them, all hell breaks loose. Literally." In a statement on playing God in the upcoming production, he said, "God is everything love is and that love becomes the beginning of blessings and miracles. Playing this role of God is easy because I'm not acting, I'm just believing."

In the web series Gary Busey Pet Judge (2020) he presided as a pet court show judge to help resolve problems.

Personal life
Busey has three children, Jake, Alectra, and Luke.

On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and he suffered permanent brain damage.

In 1996, Busey publicly announced that he was a Christian, saying: "I am proud to tell Hollywood I am a Christian. For the first time I am now free to be myself." Busey cites the motorcycle accident, as well as a 1995 cocaine overdose, as events that strengthened his Christian faith.

In 1997, Busey underwent successful surgery to remove a cancerous, plum-sized tumor from his sinus cavity. The growth was found after Busey began suffering nose bleeds.

During the filming of the second season of Celebrity Rehab in 2008, Busey was referred to psychiatrist Charles Sophy. Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than was realized. He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak and act impulsively. Sophy recommended Busey take valproic acid (Depakote), with which Busey agreed.

In 2011, Busey endorsed Newt Gingrich during Gingrich's 2012 presidential campaign, but later withdrew his endorsement. In 2015, he endorsed Donald Trump for the 2016 United States Presidential election. After the election, Busey stated that he was "very happy" that Trump won, but declined to further discuss it, not wishing to talk about politics.

Selected filmography

 * Wild in the Streets (1968)
 * Angels Hard as They Come (1971)
 * The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
 * Dirty Little Billy (1972)
 * The Last American Hero (1973)
 * Hex (1973)
 * Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
 * The Gumball Rally (1976)
 * A Star Is Born (1976)
 * Straight Time (1978)
 * The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
 * Big Wednesday (1978)
 * Carny (1980)
 * Foolin' Around (1980)
 * Barbarosa (1982)
 * D.C. Cab (1983)
 * Insignificance (1985)
 * Silver Bullet (1985)
 * Eye of the Tiger (1986)
 * Lethal Weapon (1987)
 * Predator 2 (1990)
 * Point Break (1991)
 * Under Siege (1992)
 * The Firm (1993)
 * Rookie of the Year (1993)
 * Surviving the Game (1994)
 * Drop Zone (1994)
 * Black Sheep (1996)
 * Lost Highway (1997)
 * Soldier (1998)
 * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
 * Hot Boyz (1999)
 * Quigley (2003)
 * Piranha 3DD (2012)
 * Entourage (2015)

title: Gary Busey