"Extinct" whale re-appears

Yesteray a Greenland Whale was photographed in Svalbard, Norway. The whale has no been observed since 1911 and was presumed extinct. I only have a link to the norwegian article, but it contains some pictures for you even though you dont understand the language.

www.vg.no...

Translation of the article is as follows:

Extinct whale re-appears in Svalbard

Suddely the "extinct" greenland whale came up from the sea near Longyearbyen.

No one has captured a greenland whale since 1911, and the word sensation hardly covers the visit Svalbard had yesterday, experts say.

-It is very much a sensation. As a biologists up here I have worked the last 25 years charting whales. I have been looking for the greenland whale for several years from boats and helicopters. And then all of the sudden it surfaces right outside my office. It is crazy, Ian Gjertz a Natural Convervatist says.

The first reports of the 15 meter long giant came about 10'ish yesterday. The whale kept near to the pier until late last night.

-Whales dont like the sound of boat engines. When the traffic from small boats increased the whale withdrew into the sea again. It probably thought it was abit too much, Gjertz says.

The greenland whale can be up to 20 meters long, and weigh up to 100 tonns.

-What seperates them from other whales, like the blue whale, is that has a larger hump. They are shorter, wider and fatter, Gjertz says.

It was just the large amount of fat that almost sealed the faith of the greenland whale. Earlier when hunters killed the whales the blubbler kept it afloat.

-The first greenland whale was shot in 1611, at that time the sea was filled with them. The last one was shot in 1911, since then the greenland whale has been presumed extinct, Gjertz says.


Yay!!!

Drawing of a greenland whale:




[edit on 20-7-2006 by anorwegianguy1972]

Originally posted by anorwegianguy1972
you dont understand the language.

Correct.

I assume that you do, so could you translate what "kind" of whale it is so that others can find out more about it a little easier (or is it actually calles a "Greenland Whale")?

Regardless, it's good to hear.


Edit: Looks like it might be also known as the Atlantic "Northern Right Whale" if that's the one you're referring to.

[edit on 7/20/06 by redmage]

It would have to pop up in Norway - not the cleverest of locations if your

1. A Whale
   
2. Back from the Extinct List
   

A bit like being an Everton Supporter in the wrong end of Liverpool


Oh and as for the ad at the Bottom of the article Bottom Geddit ?

Nah Ill get my coat

[edit on 20-7-2006 by Silk]

Originally posted by redmage

Originally posted by anorwegianguy1972
you dont understand the language.

Correct.

I assume that you do, so could you translate what "kind" of whale it is so that others can find out more about it a little easier (or is it actually calles a "Greenland Whale")?

Regardless, it's good to hear.

[edit on 7/20/06 by redmage]

Translated the whole article now.

This is exactly why I don't pay a lot of attention to scientist when they say something is extinct.

True, we can endanger, and even cause extinction...but we can't cover every area of this globe to be able to prove that they are all gone.

Originally posted by anorwegianguy1972
Translated the whole article now.

That does sound like the Atlantic "Northern Right Whale".

They got the name because they were the "right whale" to hunt, due to the large ammount of blubber causing them to float (after death) for easier harvesting. :shk:

P.S. Thanks for the translation.

[edit on 7/20/06 by redmage]

Norweig72, I gave you a way above top secret vote. Nice find, and thank you for the translation. We could all understand it.

Good going dude!

-ADHD

Originally posted by jlc163
This is exactly why I don't pay a lot of attention to scientist when they say something is extinct.

Why, because in this case there was one, or maybe a few more, of this once plentiful species?

Seems rather silly no?

Nice find, i'm really happy to see that there's still hope for 'extinct' animals.
I hope to hear the same about the Tasmanian tiger :p

What I don't undestand is that i havent heard anything about this on the news, all they talk about is some dumbass conflict in Libanon, while for me, this is much more important...

Maan, it`s so close to Sweden x.x !

I`ve never liked sea animals, I freak out if I see a fish.
So just wonder what would happen if I see a huuuuuuuuge whale!

Here is a english article about the story:

www.aftenposten.no...

Well if there is one, there must be more. Humans thought they were extinct and we were wrong. So what happened? They went into hiding. Why would this whale swim by Norway? As a previous poster joked, why Norway? Perhaps it was a scout whale testing the waters to see if they will still be hunted. Norway still hunts right? Will this whale species be murdered again? Maybe Norway has to stop all whaling activity and send some sonar signal projecting peace...

Originally posted by anorwegianguy1972
Here is a english article about the story:

^^ Says that this whale was 'nearly extinct', they say they searched and found about 20. I found this interesting though:

"It just swam around here for about an hour," an enthustiastic Gjertz told Aftenposten.no. "Talk about a coincidence that it surfaced right here! It was just incredible."
...
"I’ve been roaming around here in planes, helicopters and boats for the past 25 years and kept an eye out for Greenland whales," Gjertz said. "But I never saw one. And then this one shows up here!"

The article says the whale hung around for about 12 hours, even showed itself to a bunch of tourists on a boat. Sweet!

The whales probably heard that the whale hunters were on holliday, it's no joke, read here

www.aftenposten.no...

And yes, we do still hunt whales, sadly. It dont even taste that good imo. In fact, a bunch of whale watcher tourists got more than they bargained for when whale hunters killed a whale right in front of them earlier this year, nasty stuff:

www.aftenposten.no...


[edit on 24-7-2006 by anorwegianguy1972]

Ofcourse the location where it was found, isn't too populated, so a lot of times when the whale came to surface, noone had noticed that, because there was noone around

It is too bad they didn't get any under water photo's of it though..

Sound's as if it quite the massive "Fishy" !!!!

The whale measured about 15 meters long and splashed about in the waters not far from the center of town. Such whales can be 20 meters long and weigh 100 tons.

THanks for sharing, alway's nice to hear of something that is thought to be extinct, show uo (Litterally on thier door step in this case!!:lol and rock the scientist's to reevalute thier conclusion's!!!