Free Republic

Wild video shows the moment the windsurfer crashes right into a gray whale as it surfaces directly into his path. The man topples off the board, and the sail collapses into the water, while the whale disappears back into the bay. The windsurfer appears stunned but unharmed by the incident.

The whale — about a year old — came ashore near the county line, bringing with it crowds of people, curious to see the majestic creature up close. But with the curiosity also came sadness for some — why did the whale die? How did it end up washed up on the beach? “I was wondering if it died naturally or if it died from a boat because it looked like he had a lot of cuts on it and that could have been from an engine or something,” said Davenport Milgalter. Authorities say gray whales are migrating by our...

Scientists in Mexico's Laguna Ojo de Liebre, or Scammon's Lagoon, on Sunday discovered conjoined gray whale calves. It might be the first documented case of Siamese twin gray whales. (Conjoined twins have occurred in other species, such as fin, sei and minke whales. A database search at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County did not reveal published instances of conjoined gray whale twins.) Unfortunately, the twins discovered in Scammon's Lagoon did not survive. Most likely, they were miscarried because the carcass is only about seven feet long, versus the normal 12-16 feet for newborn gray whales. Gray whales...

Thick Arctic ice may be the reason for a precipitous drop in this spring's two-month gray whale count at Point Piedras Blancas. Only 115 gray whale calves were counted this year by scientists at Point Piedras Blancas, down dramatically from the 285 counted last year. It's the fourth-lowest count in the 14-year history of the cetacean census. The most gray whale calves ever counted at the point was 456 in 2004, just three years after the low of 87 in 2001. By counting calves swimming alongside their mothers, scientists said the health of the entire population can be assessed. Counts...