🔺Video: Call Me Migaloo - White whales, such as the recently spotted humpback nicknamed Migaloo, are rare and elusive creatures. | 🎥 by: @greenislandcairns First spotted in 1991, he’s been seen more than 50 times since, including a few times around the Great Barrier Reef this summer. What do we know about Migaloo?
In the past 25 years since whale watchers first spotted the exceedingly social Migaloo—so-called after the Aboriginal word for “white fella”—scientists have been able to learn a bit about him. They think he was around 3-5 years old when first spotted, which makes him 28-30 now. Barring an unfortunate accident, he may have another 50 years ahead of him, although scientists don’t know for sure how long humpback whales live because they don’t have teeth—like tree rings, analyzing concentric layers in teeth is a common way to measure age in mammals. They know he’s a male from his song. While both male and female humpback whales produce sound, only males sing the melodic humpback songs that long ago captured our imaginations. In 1998, researchers first recorded Migaloo singing—and his knack for melody gave it away. His maleness was further confirmed by DNA after researchers from Lismore, Australia’s Southern Cross University, collected skin samples from Migaloo in 2004. A group of very lucky guests on board a @greenislandcairns cruise were treated to the rare sight of this magnificent creature casually cruising by. Skippers John and Patt captured this awesome video of Migaloo, who is one of only four reported white whales in the whole world, one of whom is thought to be Migaloo's offspring. Via @livingonearth #DiscoverOcean

A video posted by Discover Ocean (@discoverocean) on Feb 4, 2017 at 9:42am PST