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Scientists stunned as grey whale sighted off Israel (Jonah?)
AFP via Yahoo ^ | 05/11/2010 | Staff

Posted on 05/11/2010 8:51:49 PM PDT by OldDeckHand

JERUSALEM (AFP) - – The appearance of a grey whale off the coast of Israel has stunned scientists, in what was thought to be the first time the giant mammal has been seen outside the Pacific in several hundred years.

The whale, which was first sighted off Herzliya in central Israel on Saturday, is believed to have travelled thousands of miles from the north Pacific after losing its way in search of food.

"It's an unbelievable event which has been described as one of the most important whale sightings ever," said Dr Aviad Scheinin, chairman of the Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center which identified the creature.

A population of grey whales once inhabited the north Atlantic but became extinct in the 17th or 18th centuries and has not been seen there since.

The remaining colonies live in the western and eastern sectors of the north Pacific.

"What has amazed the entire marine mammal research community is there haven't been any grey whales in the Atlantic since the 18th century," he said. Scheinin said the creature, a mature whale measuring some 12 metres (39 feet) and weighing around 20 tonnes, probably reached the Atlantic through the Northwest Passage, an Arctic sea route that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is normally covered with ice.

(Excerpt) Read more at sg.news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Science; Travel; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: cryptobiology; cryptozoology; israel; jonah; ocean; sea; whale; whales
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1 posted on 05/11/2010 8:51:49 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: OldDeckHand
Picture of the well-traveled whale...


2 posted on 05/11/2010 8:53:28 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping?


3 posted on 05/11/2010 8:56:22 PM PDT by LibertyRocks (http://libertyrocks.wordpress.com ~ Anti-Obama Gear: http://cafepress.com/NO_ObamaBiden08)
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To: OldDeckHand

Its a whales life. Not a bad life really, swim all over the world in the deep blue ocean.


4 posted on 05/11/2010 8:56:39 PM PDT by valkyry1
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To: OldDeckHand

Wow! This is pretty fascinating. :) Thanks!


5 posted on 05/11/2010 8:57:34 PM PDT by LibertyRocks (http://libertyrocks.wordpress.com ~ Anti-Obama Gear: http://cafepress.com/NO_ObamaBiden08)
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To: OldDeckHand

They say several hundred years since a whale like this has been seen near Israel ? does that mean that they had records of whales being in that area 700-800 years ago ?


6 posted on 05/11/2010 8:58:24 PM PDT by American Constitutionalist (There is no civility in the way the Communist/Marxist want to destroy the USA)
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To: OldDeckHand

It’s Bush’s fault.


7 posted on 05/11/2010 8:58:37 PM PDT by majormaturity
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To: majormaturity

It is Hillary and her peace mission.


8 posted on 05/11/2010 9:03:26 PM PDT by Irisshlass
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To: OldDeckHand

I bet the whale did a big sneak through the Panama Canal when no one was looking!


9 posted on 05/11/2010 9:03:40 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (?)
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To: American Constitutionalist
"does that mean that they had records of whales being in that area 700-800 years ago ?'

No, I'm pretty sure it just means that there are records - ship's whaling logs, probably - going back to the late 17th century that noted gray whale sightings/killings in the Atlantic.

This isn't the first sighting off Israel in 300ish years, it's the first sighting anywhere in the Atlantic, to include the Mediterranean which of course is only accessible to whales from the Atlantic.

10 posted on 05/11/2010 9:04:18 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: OldDeckHand

Mabye the whale is waiting to give somebody a ride Jonah style!


11 posted on 05/11/2010 9:07:06 PM PDT by Cheapskate (Play loud and carry BIG sticks!)
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To: OldDeckHand
Scientists stunned...

He..he..he..

12 posted on 05/11/2010 9:09:05 PM PDT by csense
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To: OldDeckHand

There are so many of those usless stinking sacks of blubber in the Pacific they had to go somewhere!


13 posted on 05/11/2010 9:09:55 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: dalereed
There are so many of those usless stinking sacks of blubber in the Pacific they had to go somewhere!

Some of them ended up in Hollywood

14 posted on 05/11/2010 9:20:16 PM PDT by TheCipher
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To: OldDeckHand

Couldn’t be Jonah. The Bible says Jonah was swallowed by a fish. (The Hebrew word means fish.)


15 posted on 05/11/2010 10:18:23 PM PDT by righttackle44 (Is Obama an Irish, Italian or Japanese name?)
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To: TheCipher

Dang, dude, my eyes!


16 posted on 05/11/2010 10:23:05 PM PDT by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
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To: OldDeckHand

Right. He “lost his way”. Must be a Democrat whale.


17 posted on 05/11/2010 10:36:28 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Everyone needs valid ID except illegal aliens and the President - only in America)
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To: OldDeckHand

Wonder if the whale will make it through the Suez? If it does, then those damn Somali pirates will probably make whale burgers out of it before it can make it to the Indian ocean.


18 posted on 05/11/2010 11:20:01 PM PDT by anymouse (God didn't write this sitcom we call life, he's just the critic.)
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To: TheCipher

Shame on you for making fun of our narwho-Americans.


19 posted on 05/11/2010 11:50:36 PM PDT by Erasmus (Looks like we're between a lithic outcropping and a region of low compressibility.)
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To: OldDeckHand

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/whale/index?tab=articles


20 posted on 05/12/2010 2:06:50 AM PDT by RonDog
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