Google "gray whales" and you will find that there is a healthy population on the U.S. west coast, a severely endangered population on the Russian Pacific coast (around 300 animals) and an extinct population in the Atlantic.
Tell that to the gray whale that's living off the coast of Israel.
Photographic documentation confirms that the whale previously deemed extinct since the 1700's, is indeed a gray whale.
This is probably the equivalent to finding the Loch Ness monster has been living in a lake shore condo for the last 300 years.
The ancient ancestors of the modern gray whale actually were to be found in the Mediterranean. It's believed they traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, when the land bridge connecting North and South America was submerged.
It's not yet clear if this individual has somehow made some extraordinary long distance swim from the Pacific to the Atlantic, or if somehow the species has come back from the dead. I'm sure there will be some DNA analysis before long, if it's not already underway. For now, it must just remain a mystery and a marvel. Who doesn't love that?
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