Tragic story of a Blue Whale
Heartbreaking images of Blue Whale struck dead by ship as it slept
- Body of majestic blue whale found floating on surface of Indian Ocean off southern tip of Sri Lanka
- Gaping wound shows the horrific point of impact with the bow of the ship - leaving the gentle giant's tail fin in tatters.
- Experts want to highlight blue whales' plight in a bid to reduce ship strikes
These heartbreaking images show the body of a majestic blue whale fatally injured as it slept in a busy shipping lane.
It was spotted floating near the surface of the Indian Ocean off the southern tip of Sri Lanka.
A gaping wound shows the horrific point of impact with the bow of the ship - leaving the gentle giant's tail fin in tatters.
Distressing sight: The body of this blue whale was found floating in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka after being struck by a ship as it slept
Horrific: The gaping wound where the bow of a container vessel is believed to have collided with the whale's tail
At 200 tonnes, the blue whale is the largest animal on Earth and the largest animals to have ever lived, they dwarf even the largest of the dinosaurs.
Living in the the open ocean, they are found usually found along the continental shelf edges and near polar ice.
A single calf is produced every two to three years, and from birth each calf consumes up to 50 gallons of milk every single day and in its first year of life, a calf gains 90 kilograms per day.
A blue whale's blood vessels are wide enough for a human to swim through.
Its scientific name is Balaenoptera musculus.
Marine experts believe the blue whale – an endangered species with as few as 5,000 left in the wild - had been struck by a container vessel.
The moving pictures were captured by diver Tony Wu, who wanted to highlight the blue whale’s desperate plight in a bid to reduce devastating ship strikes.
Unofficial figures show thousands of whales – many critically endangered species – have been killed by container ships.
'The only statement that can be made is that ship strikes are a serious problem, and the number of whales killed by ships is far higher than most people probably understand.'
Endangered:The blue whale is an endangered species with as few as 5,000 left in the wild
Up close: A close-up view of the throat grooves on the dead blue whale.
Protection: The moving pictures were captured by diver Tony Wu, who wanted to highlight the blue whales' desperate plight in a bid to reduce devastating ship strikes
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17861
Date Joined: 11/03/08
such a shame to see this
such a shame to see this happen. so much to learn about these whales
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Rob H
Posts: 5745
Date Joined: 18/01/12
It is sad for sure, but i
It is sad for sure, but i dont believe that "thousands" are killed. Do the math, if there are 5000 and "thousands" are killed, well where are the pics? I have heard of a couple of humpbacks in Hauraki gulf NZ.
Its hard to imagine that an animal with such sensitive facultys could sleep thru a thumping great container ship approaching unless there was something wrong with it?
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
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Perry Home
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 07/10/10
Interesting....
Without sounding like a complete bastard do you think PETA, PEW and any other associated marine group will take up the cudgel against container ships killing innocent blue whales and make restrictions on these ships , no just as I thought, don't bite the hand that feeds you - just attack the relatively minor fragmentized groups who because of their very demographic nature struggle to collectively protect their situation - the silence is deafening!
AlwaysFishin
Posts: 644
Date Joined: 13/11/11
WTF
Mate you did a pretty piss poor job of trying not to sound like a complete bastard.. All bod posted was some pics of this blue whale, along with some info on them. I didn't see him attacking anyone or demanding any restrictions. Not only do you sound like a bastard, you also sound like a complete wanker..
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15610
Date Joined: 29/11/05
Words
Sure its sad and no one likes to see it, but the words, horrific, distressing, endangered, heartbreaking, protected have been used as headlines designed for an emotive response, by the author of the article, not bod.
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southcity104
Posts: 1659
Date Joined: 27/01/09
Its a whale?????
if you want tragic stories. Go to any emergency hospital on a weekend evening.
Just like the fisheries assholes said at the general meetings when they imposed that all dead baldies were to be thrown overboard when they came up in the pots "its getting returned to the food chain"
"Its a life style job"
uncle
Posts: 9349
Date Joined: 10/02/07
shit happens
every day to any species of life form and some done on purpose and no one gives a f......
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
theres a deafening silence...
there is a deafening silence from the PEW group about the proposed new gas hub north of broome,lets see now it is going to have large ships coming and going into the gas hub but this place is also known to be a calving ground for humpback whales.
Why no outcry could it be that one of the prominent spin doctors for PEW is the companion of a oil and gas person Hmmm
Pilbra Dave
Posts: 194
Date Joined: 30/09/11
No Idea
Do you not think that there is already hundreds if not thousands of ships going past Broome already? The whole northern west coast is a calving ground for humpback whales, During the whale season I see whales everytime I go fishing so why don't we turn the whole of WA into a National Park and move everyone over east. Maybe PEW realise that it makes no difference to the whales weather the gas plant is at James Price Point or Karratha, In fact maybe it would be better for the whales if the gas plant was at James Price Point because the ships would spend less time in humpback waters?
If you ain't Fishin you ain't Livin
Quobbarockhopper
Posts: 391
Date Joined: 28/05/10
wanna try something funny
wanna try something funny mega? go get on PEWs facebook page and leave a post asking them about the irony of Sunoco, Joe Pew etc... now funding a "conservation" group
Count how long it stays there for before you get reported and they remove it... mine was about 12 mins...
Perry Home
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 07/10/10
Thanks Megladon - Thats my point
I'm not having a go at Bod as you think Alwaysfishin for posting information like that - it is very distressing to see such a beautiful creature suffer a painful death just doing what it does in its natural element. My point is that so many of these environment groups who are looking to make "wilderness / sanctuary areas" within the waters of where we fish don't take the fight to the mutlinational companies creating "the collateral damage". They are targetting the loosely gathered groups such as rec fishers because we represent "the low hanging fruit" - easy target, great return on investment when you eant to get a result. Can any of you say what these groups such as PEW are doing to alter the practice of these unfortunate accidents?
Pilbra Dave
Posts: 194
Date Joined: 30/09/11
How do you know it was a ship?
How do you know that it wasn't already dead which is why it drifted into a shipping lane and got hit?
I live in Karratha and we have heaps of humpbacks come past every year and every now and again a whale will die in the area and the local greenies start carring on about about the evil big companies have killed another whale and it always turns out to have died from natural causes! Do you think they aren't taking up the fight because it isn't as big an issue as you make it out to be?
If you ain't Fishin you ain't Livin