Scientists are stunned by the recent sighting of a grey whale off the shores of Israel. Grey whales haven’t been seen outside the Pacific ocean for several hundred years. This one has traveled thousands of miles from the north Pacific.
“What has amazed the entire marine mammal research community is there haven’t been any grey whales in the Atlantic since the 18th century,” he said. Scheinin said the creature, a mature whale measuring some 12 metres (39 feet) and weighing around 20 tonnes, probably reached the Atlantic through the Northwest Passage, an Arctic sea route that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is normally covered with ice.
“Here you have an animal that is supposed to live in the Pacific and because the ice in the Arctic is melting, it managed to get through this corridor near the Bering Strait,” Scheinin told AFP.
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Now scientists are wondering whether climate change will lead to more of this.
I’ve seen whales in the Atlantic — I’ve been quite close to some — and it was always amazing. But spotting a grey whale? That would be an entirely new level of Awesome.
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