Featured Image Credit: Lisa Skelton
By Sarah Sharkey
Luban the humpback whale recently made a 1,500 km trans-oceanic journey. It only took her 9 days to make this voyage across an ocean.
She was tagged in the Gulf of Marsiah in the Arabian Sea and ended up on the coast of India!
An official statement from the Environment Society of Oman said “Luban started heading east across the Indian Ocean on December 12 and arrived off the Indian state of Goa on December 21 after a journey of over 1,500 km. Over the last few days it has been heading steadily south at 5km per hour and its last known location was off the town of Mangaluru in the Indian state of Karnataka.
This long-distance haul has shocked scientists who had previously thought humpback whales as a species that did not stray too far from their home. The fact that humpback whales migrate long distances is important because that ensures that their genetic diversity is large. If a population has more genetic diversity, then the population is more likely to survive potentially catastrophic events such as intense global warming or acidification of our oceans.
This impressive journey will help to elucidate the marvelous mysteries that are embodied by humpback whales.
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