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Vaquita. Photo Thomas Jefferson

Scientific Committee gives first ever official species extinction warning

Photo: Thomas Jefferson We have welcomed the urgent call by experts to protect the vaquita...
blue whale

Whale fossil from Peru may have been heavier than blue whale

Scientists examining the bones of a 39 million-year-old ancient whale have concluded that it may...
Humpback whale © Christopher Swann

Humpback whales breach in synchronisation

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Long-finned pilot whale

Unusual activity witnessed before pilot whale stranding

Just days after a pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded on an island in the...

Popular humpback whale is killed by passing ship

Humpback whale at surface with pectoral fins

A humpback whale popular with whale watchers in waters off California and Mexico has died after being struck by a passing ship.

Known as Fran, the 50-foot whale was found washed up on the shore in Half Moon Bay south of San Francisco earlier this week, and her death now raises concerns for the survival of her young calf.

A post mortem has revealed Fran suffered a force trauma associated with a ship strike.

Many species of whales feed, play, migrate, rest, nurse, mate, give birth, and socialize in urbanised marine highways, putting them at risk of being struck by passing vessels. Large passing ships are unlikely to see a whale or may be unable to divert course if they do see one.

In the case of endangered North Atlantic right whales, ship strike is one of the two biggest threats to their survival and WDC has successfully campaigned to have ship speed limits reduced to help prevent injury and death in the future.

Conservationists first spotted Fran in January of 2014 in Guerrero, Mexico and had been tracking her ever since.

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