Main image via The Star + Straits Times
Imagine being alone, lost, starving and unable to find your way home. Scary, isn’t it?
Well, that’s exactly what is happening to a young grey whale that’s found itself lost in the Mediterranean and now scientists are worried that it may not survive.
via GIPHY
Thousands of miles away from its natural habitat in the Pacific ocean, biologists believe that the grey whale became lost and swam into the Atlantic ocean via the Artic, due to global warming opening northern routes.
Grey whales normally migrate along the U.S. west coast and the young whale that the scientists have named Wally, is now desperately trying to find its way home.
Biologists estimate that Wally is around two-years-old and eight meters long but as the whale cannot find the invertebrates that are his normal source of food in the depths of the Pacific, he is rapidly losing weight and causing concern.
Image via Pauldal
“We are very worried about his future, as his fat, which is his fuel to travel, has gone down a lot,” Eric Hansen, head of the state biodiversity agency in southern France said. “He is exhausted and just skin over bones.” We have not seen him eat since we started tracking him.”
According to Eric, Wally had entered the Mediterranean through the Gibraltar Strair and followed the Moroccan coast before cutting across to Italian shores and arriving in France.
The whale moves about 80 to 90 kilometers a day, closely following France’s southern shores and is now approaching the Spanish coast.
“It is trying to enter harbours, as if to find a way out,” Eric said. “Its strategy should work and we hope it can make its way back to Gibraltar in about a week.”
Image via The Star
This is only the second time that biologists have observed a grey whale in the Mediterranean. The first time was in 2010.
A few days ago, Wally found himself caught in a fishing net off the Camargue coast but thankfully, he managed to free himself.
However, the grey whale is expected to encounter more obstacles, notably the heavy shipping traffic in the Gibraltar Strait.
“We will probably see this more often because of climate change, which not only opened the northern route but is also changing ocean currents because of the melting of the ice caps,” Eric shared.
Image via Straits Times
We hope Wally finds his way home and back to his family! We’d hate to see anything bad happen to the whale.
Here’s us sending vibes out into the universe to help Wally get home!
Info via Astro AWANI