Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Rare White Whale

Thar she blows!:
RECORD numbers of humpback whales are on their annual migration up Australia's east coast, including the rare white whale Migaloo, scientists say.

Migaloo was spotted this week off Heron Island, on Queensland's central coast, by resort staff on a fishing trip.

...A large number of whales have been counted passing Stradbroke Island in the past week, prompting research head Dr Mike Noad to estimate as many as 10,000 humpbacks will migrate to the Whitsundays this winter.

"We can say that this population is doing extraordinarily well, it's got a very, very low death rate," Dr Noad said.

"We can infer that this population, although there is potential impact from things such as global warming, coastal development, all that sort of stuff, none of it seems to be worrying these guys at this stage.

"It seems that these whales are happy, and they're literally breeding like rabbits at the moment."

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