WASHINGTON: With the use of a satellite tracking device, scientists were able to follow the migration journey of a western North Pacific gray whale. The said whale travelled 14,000 miles on its roundtrip travel from Russia’s Sakhalin Island to its feeding ground in Baja, Mexico. The scientists said this is the longest recorded mammal migration so far.
The whale took 172 days to complete its migration trip that happened between Nov. 24, 2011 and Feb. 2, 2012.
The scientists said it is 5,000 miles longer than the longest flight in the world. The longest flight in the world is between Dallas-Ft. Worth and Sydney.
The gray whale called Varvara ended assumptions about the migration pattern of gray whales. Scientists previously believed that gray whales travel up and down the eastern Asian coast, to the South China Sea.
Bruce Mate of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal said that what they found is “a genuine surprise to most folks.”
The western North Pacific gray whales are under the list of endangered species.
As they observe Varvara, the researchers were baffled by its unusual behavior such as hitting on eastern gray whales’ breeding grounds. They also found that Varvara can navigate across open water and they don’t follow coastlines to find their way home and that she doesn’t need to follow the same path to return home. According to Mate, Varvara was travelling at an average of 6.5 knot during her travel. She barely stops for a snack.
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