Gray Whale in Atlantic First in Hundreds of Years: Big Pic
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May 11, 2010 -- A gray whale was spotted off the coast of Israel recently, doing things that whales do, like slapping its tail on the water's surface.
But this whale is swimming in the wrong part of the world for its species. The rest of the gray whales are in the Pacific Ocean.
In fact, there have been no gray whales in the Atlantic since the eighteenth century, when they were essentially hunted to extinction there.
SLIDE SHOW: See photos of other mammals of the sea, including sea lions, dolphins and otters.
Scientists speculate that the gray whale ended up in the wrong ocean by navigating through a melted Northwest Passage. So far away from home and looking emaciated, it's probably hopelessly lost, the experts said.
Image credit: Dr. Aviad Scheinin
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