SYDNEY: An extremely rare white humpback whale was Tuesday spotted off the Australian coast as he migrates toward warmer tropical waters to mate.
The albino is widely believed to be Migaloo, the world’s best-known all-white humpback who has built up a loyal following in Australia since first being sighted in 1991.
Migaloo is an Aboriginal word meaning “whitefella.”
He was seen and photographed off Byron Bay on Australia’s east coast, heading north on his annual migration from Antarctica to warmer waters in Queensland state.
“I cried. I screamed ‘You gorgeous whale, thank you for being here for us today’,” Alison Reid, who saw Migaloo on a whale watching cruise, told national radio.
“He’s amazing. It was just an incredible sight, it was so unreal.”
Oskar Peterson, who runs the Australian-based White Whale Research Center, said a study by Southern Cross University in 2004, which managed to get skin samples from the whale, had shown Migaloo was male. He was now believed to be around 30 years old.
The whale is expected to gradually make his way as far north as Cooktown in the Australian tropics before the return trip to Antarctica later in the year.
Australia’s east coast humpback population has been brought back from the brink of extinction following the halting of whaling in the early 1960s. However, there are believed to be only two or three white humpbacks in the world.
Rare white whale sighted off Australia
Rare white whale sighted off Australia
About 140 US military personnel wounded in Iran war: Pentagon
- “The vast majority of these injuries have been minor,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said
- Seven US military personnel were also killed in Iranian attacks early in the conflict
WASHINGTON: About 140 US military personnel have been wounded in attacks since the start of the war against Iran, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
“The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 108 service members have already returned to duty,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
“Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care,” he added.
Seven US military personnel were also killed in Iranian attacks early in the conflict — six in Kuwait and one in Saudi Arabia — the US military has previously said.
US and Israeli forces launched a massive air campaign against Iran on February 28, and Tehran responded with waves of missiles and drones targeting countries in the region that host US forces or bases.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said earlier Tuesday that US strikes against Iran were intensifying, while the volume of drones and missiles launched by Iran has dramatically decreased.
