Proving that 'extinction' is not always final

Mystery gray whale sighted again off Spain coast

A mysterious gray whale sighted off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea has been seen again off the north east coast of Spain.

The second sighting, made 23 days and 3000km after the first, has continued to perplex whale experts.

Gray whales were thought to be extinct across the Atlantic Ocean, so the appearance of an individual within the Mediterranean Sea was a major surprise.

Now it is not clear where the whale is heading or why.

Once, three major populations of gray (also spelt grey) whale existed: in the western and eastern North Pacific Ocean, and in the North Atlantic.

However, the North Atlantic population of gray whale became extinct sometime in the 17th or 18th Century, for reasons that are not clear.

No sightings of the species had been made in the Atlantic Ocean since.

That was until a single individual gray whale was sighted off the coast of Herzliya Marina, Israel on 9 May this year.

Hurrah; may this be a sign of a resurgence of the species. Either there were unknown Atlantic grey whales all the time, or one has migrated thousands of miles from the Pacific. But for now, the sightings mean hope.