Scientists were shocked earlier this week after learning that a humpback whale that had spent over two weeks in a crocodile-infested river during September had returned to the wide, tidal-bore body of water instead of migrating.
During September, local Australian news outlets followed the movements of the humpback—nicknamed “Humpy”—and were elated when it finally left the confines of the East Crocodile River, only to see it mysteriously return in recent days.
Humpback whales commonly migrate to Antarctica to feed during these months, so it caused alarm to see the same whale return, leading many researchers to ponder the reason why.
According to ABC News Australia, when Humpy was spotted 20 kilometers up the East Crocodile River two months ago, it was the first recorded sighting of a whale in that location.
It took a full 17 days for Humpy to finally swim back into the ocean, to the relief of many. But for some reason, the whale seems to love the location, and is in no hurry to head south down to the frigid Antarctic waters.
“We had a [recreational] fisher on the 12th of October with his phone take some images and some video footage, and then that kickstarted the whole thing again,” government scientist Carol Palmer told ABC Australia. “We know it’s the same one because we do photo identification of dorsal fins.”
After weighing the options with an international retinue of scientists, Palmer and her team were still stumped as to why the whale didn’t seem to want to move on.
“By now all of them are heading to Antarctica to feed,” she told the news outlet. “So the fact that this guy’s still in tropical waters—it’s really hot up here—it makes us all feel that there could be something wrong.”
Palmer and her team are hoping that Humpy will move on before the rainy season. As the Crocodile River’s salinity drops due to freshwater flooding, it will adversely affect the whales health.
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