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Monday, October 1, 2012

Magical Migaloo: The rare white humpback whale




This may sound like  a page out of Herman Melville's classic, if Moby Dick wasn't a sperm whale.

Migaloo, meaning 'White Fella' in the Aboriginal Australian language is a rare white humpback whale. So rare in fact that he was the only white humpback whale in the world until last September when a white calf was spotted near the Great Barrier reef. On the 27th of September 2012 Migaloo was spotted off the east coast of Australia after 3 years while migrating back from northern waters. 

White humpback whale calf spotted near the Great Barrier reef in September 2011.

Greg Kaufman from the Pacific Whale Foundation based in Hawaii said it was possible that Migaloo the 20-something whale was on the prowl - looking for a mate. 

Migaloo is such a legend that the Pacific Whale Foundation hosts a website that documents the activities of this unusual marine mammal and monitors interactions between the whale and curious humans here: http://www.migaloowhale.org/

The only other white cetacean known to be roaming the ocean these days is 'Iceberg' the all white killer whale spotted by Russian scientists in August 2010.

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