Attached Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm

"A whale has made its way up the River Thames to central London, where it is being watched by riverside crowds. The northern bottle-nosed whale, which is about 20ft (6m) long, was seen swimming past the Houses of Parliament and is still moving upstream. "

Attached Link: http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/erde/0,1518,396005,00.html

Pah! There was a (dead) whale in Berlin this week!

...Greenpeace activists put it in front of the Japanese embassy to protest against whale fishing.

Message edited on: 01/20/2006 08:08

that was dead this one's alive and well.. biiiiig difference! lol

Poor ole whale, they say the sea is dirty and polluted but think just how bad the thames will be. I know it's alot cleaner that it used to be but cant be what your average aquatic titan is used to :) I wonder if it has found it's first whopping trolley yet. John

I'm pretty ignorant on biology, but... saltwater animal in fresh water; isn't that going to harm it pretty badly? Or are mammals not affected in that way? (and yes, I know 'fresh' is relative when it comes to the Thames.) I'll drop by and say hello if it manages to get onto the Grand Union Canal.

Whales breathe air so the fresh water wont affect it.

Not sure about that, not sure why satwater fishe have problems in fresh water. Might be something to do with the density or possible the mineral content of salt water. I know it's not going to find much to eat though. Imagine the shock the poor fish are going to get though. Them poor coutry bumpkin river fish are going to have the shock of their life when that whale swims by. Imagine the panic a 50 foot human would make if one turned up walking thorugh your town/city/village etc. John

not immediately, but the ecology of freshwater likely contains pathogens and bacteria not found in the ocean..that's gonna leave a nasty rash..maybe it heard about the Cetecean discount at the Millenium Gate..;)

In May '66 there was a Beluga Whale swimming in the Rhine in Bonn, former Capitol of Germany. In those days the Rhine was very saty due to the Saltmines in France and the chemical industry along the Rhine, so the Whale didn't see the difference between the Sea and a river.

Well; I hope it gets back to sea. At least it's one way of getting through London without paying the congestion charge - wonder if Mayor Ken has a tariff for 20-foot whales?

we're all hoping it gets back downstream.. tho it's feared it's not going to make it.. latest reports are it may beach... which may make putting the poor beast down nessecary :(

ahh the poor thing going back downstream would be a miracle, one I am sure everyone is hoping for. The size alone would cause such internal damage to itself if it beached. Some times the humane thing to do is the only option even if it is not our choice.

Saltwater animals do have problems in fresh water due to osmotic pressure. Fresh water gets sucked into their cells, until the cell membranes burst. And even before those membranes burst the concentrations of all kinds of substances are lowered (due to the extra water) to "unnatural" levels, which is also lethal. Freshwater fish have cell membranes that will prevent the uptake of too much water. Saltwater fish don't need that protection, and don't have it. Salmon and eel are basically freshwater fish, but they survive very well in salt water. The same can happen to humans. A couple of years ago a woman in New York died from drinking too much water - the water itself was clean, but she managed to totally mess up the electrolyte balance in her body cells, which is lethal.

Attached Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4633878.stm

They're trying to get it turned around now. Hope they can get it safely back to sea.

Awww :( I hope they can rescue it and get it back to it's pod. Poor baby :( They are very social creatures and it must be so lonely :(

Attached Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4635874.stm

they did their best ... the whale died at 19:00 despite all efforts to save it.. damn.

:( That was 20 minutes earlier than when I posted. Poor thing :( They are so beautiful, it's sad when one dies and in such a tragic way. I hope it wasn't a female and left a baby alone out there :( Not sure another whale would pick up the task of mothering it.

If they tried to save it a day or two before they did then it might still be alive.

it's been explained on the BBC reports : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4634208.stm or "Why so long to save the whale?" as to a day or two before, it was spotted in the Thames at 8:30 (GMT) Friday and died 19:00 (GMT) Saturday. the rescuers moved as fast as the situation allowed.

A very sad outcome, but rescuers gave the Thames Whale more of a chance than it had left on its own. The effort was watched around the world and for a while a lot of us were joined in a communal hope for one of our planets most beautiful creatures. We dont get to pick our miracles; sometimes we dont even see them.

Message edited on: 01/22/2006 13:11

Attached Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4645726.stm

they've completed the Post Mortem on the whale "A post-mortem examination on the whale which became stranded in the River Thames showed it died from a combination of problems. These included dehydration, muscle damage and failing kidneys. The 19.2ft (5.85m) female northern bottle-nosed whale died on Saturday as rescuers tried to take her back out to the open sea. She first surfaced on Friday morning, but experts said the mammal had not been able to feed for three days."

Unfortunately when a whale gets so off course it usually means they are terribly sick, and the outcome is rarely good. We had a real miracle a few years ago when Sea World managed to save JJ, a grey whale calf that had gotten separated from his mother and wandered into Marina Del Rey harbor. JJ was later returned to the wild and has been spotted a couple times since.