Rare whale in Malaysia?
(Note: This is NOT the photo of the whale spotted off the coast of Miri)
Wow... this is totally amazing! The humpback whale being spotted off the Miri coast! For the very first time!
I'm wondering, what brought the whale over here? Availability of food? Hmm... Most probably it's the food.
Rare whale sighted off Malaysia
KUCHING: The humpback whale, an endangered marine mammal, has been sighted for the first time in Malaysia, off the Miri coast.
The dark-grey whale, which was spotted by a team of aerial marine life surveyors on June 24, is at least 10m in length.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah marine mammal and fishery services' lecturer Dr Saifullah A. Jaaman said it was easy to identify the humpback whale due to its distinct physical features and behaviour.
"The flippers of the humphack whale make up about one-third of its body.
"When it dives, it brings up its tail," he told reporters at the Sarawak Forestry office at the Hock Lee Centre here on Thursday.
Dr Saifullah, the survey team's technical advisor, said the descriptions by a team member who sighted the mammal fitted well with that of the humpback whale.
He said the migratory humpback whales, which feed on small fish, had been sighted in the Philippines waters before.
The team spent about 30 hours on a Cassna aircraft for the survey, stretching from Lawas in northern Sarawak to Tanjung Datu in the southern region.
Sarawak Forestry's chief wildlife warden Wilfred Landong described as "most exciting" the sightings of the humpack whale and several other marine wildlife.
Landong said the team recorded nearly 60 sightings, which included 13 individual dugongs in three groups, seven whales, some 140 dolphins of four species, nine rays, six sharks and 13 marine turtles.
"There were two sightings of Bryde whales off Pulau Talang-Talang and sightings of three other Balaen and unidentified whales of Miri and Mukah," he added.Source: The Star.
How I wish I could be one of the witnesses to the sighting!
For more information on Humpback Whale, please visit: The Encyclopedia of Earth - Humpback Whale
4 comments:
How come when I am there for so many years, I have not even seen one :| Grrr
kara I wish I cen see one
Those pictures were cool. I wish i could see some more. POST MORE!! I wish icould see them! They're beautiful.
Shhh! don't tell Japan :( or they will come over and hunt the humpbacks for "scientific research" please help end the deaths. vistis wwc to look at the facts before its too late.
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/endangered_species_list/cetaceans/iwc/iwc_current_situation/whaling_facts/
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