Various species of whale are showing all sorts of places they shouldn’t be, like the Mediterranean, Cape Cod, and now, Namibia. Yesterday, scientists reported that they saw a gray whale off the African coast, which is really, really astonishing. As the Guardian explains:

Not only has this north Pacific species been extinct in the Atlantic since the 18th century, it has never been seen south of the equator.

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This is the second gray whale that’s been seen wandering in strange waters in the past few years. Another showed up in the Mediterranean in 2010. There’s a hopeful explanation for these appearances: According to the Guardian, some scientists are “speculating that this much-hunted great whale — reduced to near extinction in the 20th century — is regaining ancient migratory routes.”

Or there’s the less-hopeful explanation: It’s able to explore new places because climate change is heating up the oceans and messing with its northern food supply. We’re … we’re gonna go with the first one.

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