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.
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.
