Due to overfishing, the gray whale became extinct in the North Atlantic in the 18th century. In May 2010, however, it made a reappearance in the Mediterranean. Spotted off the coast of Israel, the whale would have had to have made a record migration to reach this area from extant groups in the North Pacific.
Historically there were three populations of gray whales; the ones which formerly would have been in this region, the North Atlantic population, has been extinct since the 18th century. So what's this gray whale doing there?
The current two areas where gray whale lives are in the western North Pacific and the eastern North Pacific. In the former region the whales remain critically endangered, while in the latter they have recovered after years of exploitation reduced them to just a few hundred individuals.
This particular whale was sighted off the coast of the Herzliya Marina on May 9, 2010 and has raised the possibility that gray whales may be recolonizing a part of the planet they haven't been in for 200 years.
Read more about the sighting.
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