A male humpback whale made one of the longest and most unusual migrations on record for the species, an anomaly that scientists say may be linked to climate change.
The whale was first spotted in waters off northwestern Colombia in July 2013, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science about the creature's movements and how they could explain it. Authors said the same whale was seen again four years later, in another location off the coast of Colombia about 50 miles away from where the first sighting took place.
The third unlikely occurrence of the humpback occurred in August 2022, when it was spotted off East Africa in a channel between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania. The whale would have to cross several oceans and travel more than 8,000 miles from the Pacific Ocean in Colombia to get there, and experts believe it was trying to find a mate or food. The whale's long voyage set a record for the longest known migration between breeding grounds.
Sightings were tracked through photos submitted by citizen scientists to happywhale.com, where marine enthusiasts, researchers and other professionals map the locations and movements of whales around the world.
Although humpbacks are among several known species of whales migrate extremely long distances each year to seek food sources in colder waters and breed in tropical oceans, the study authors called the humpback's behavior “unusual.” This whale crusade went down even the longest routes reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which notes in a description of humpback whales that were shared on her site that some people have been known to move as far as 5,000 miles in one year.
The study said the long-distance movement was unique “and raises the question of what the drivers are, which may include but are not necessarily limited to mating strategies .
The whale's penchant for exploring unexpected and distant habitat may also be rooted in environmental shifts caused by climate change, the authors said. Things like higher sea surface temperatures are affecting marine life around the world and could affect krill distribution in some areas, which could affect feeding grounds to his back like the long-distance traveller.
Their study noted that more research is needed to reach any conclusions about the whale's migration pattern.
“Alternatively, population growth could also be a driver of these breeding ground shifts, when animals may have to explore new breeding and/or feeding grounds due to competition from larger males and more established in both areas,” wrote the authors. “The exact cause or drivers of these breeding habitat shifts cannot be speculated on due to the limited amount of data currently available on the behavioral ecology of a humpback whale.”
CBS News reached out to one of the study's authors for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
