Whale stuns scientists with record journey spanning three oceans to mate

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A humpback whale has been found travelling a record-breaking distance spanning three oceans to mate, raising an alarm about global challenges affecting the migratory behaviour of the species. open image in gallery Sighting locations of the male humpback whale between the breeding grounds G and C Researchers first spotted the whale in 2013 in the East Pacific near Colombia and photographed it again in 2022 in the Southwest Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa near Zanzibar. open image in gallery Humpback whale observed in the Gulf of Tribugá, northern Colombian Pacific, on 10 July 2013; in Bahía Solano, northern Colombian Pacific, on 13 August 2017; and in the Zanzibar Channel on 22 August 2022 One adult humpback whale was first photographed in 2013 off the Gulf of Tribugá in the Colombian Pacific and spotted five years later in Bahía Solano, about 78km away. “This represents the longest recorded great-circle distance between sightings on two breeding grounds of a photo-identified adult male humpback whale, which is the first record of a humpback whale alternating breeding grounds between the Pacific and Indian Oceans,” researchers write.