whale

Whale, whale, whale, if it isn't another thread viral animal thread... we love those! It all started with a viral tweet from Twitter user Mx. Leah Velleman, in which they brought up the fact that Europeans avoid using the word "bear" in fear of summoning them. Instead, they call them "brown one" or "honey-eater." Pretty interesting right? And we thought we were superstitious!

Turns out, there's an even more wild European theory about evil whales, from Iceland. If this isn't already fascinating to you, we're not quite sure how to help you because, friends, this is about as cool as it gets. Get yourself ready to go deep diving into the depths of the unknown! 

Whales, like elephants, are true gentle giants. In the water, we would prefer not to encounter them, but in memes? Whale, whale, whale... someone's so insanely adorable. Really, whale memes would be welcome any day, but especially on National Shamu the Whale Day. We thought it would be the perfect timing to showcase some of our favorite whale memes.

They're smooth, they purse their lips adorably, and they always look ever so slightly confused. Truly, it is amazing that these are some of the fiercest, most dangerous animals of the sea. It takes true whalepower to get through the last day of the workweek, so charge up on these whaletastic memes. 

Migaloo, is a completely all-white humpback whale and is said to be the very first completely white humpback whale. Scientists are still unsure if Migaloo is albino or leucistic, which means he is unable to "produce pigment but has colored eyes."

The name Migaloo itself means "whitefella" in a few indigenous languages. 

Migaloo was first spotted in 1991, around Hervey Bay and has been monitored by scientists ever since. Due to Migaloo being too well-known and so rare, special protections have been implemented to ensure nothing happens to Australia's favorite humpback. Whale watchers have to keep at least a five-hundred meter distance or face the penalty. A penalty of a fine up to $16,500.

Yikes. They aren't messing around and honestly, that's a great thing. 

A tweet predicted a Migaloo sighting that he would be by Sydney soon and even possibly reach Cape Byron around Wednesday. 

If you're in Australia, be on the lookout for the rare sighting! Though, Dr. Pirotta, Macquarie University Marine Scientist, says, "Migaloo is one of around 40,000 humpback whales so essentially it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. So when people see or may have seen this individual people get really excited and start to try and predict his movements."

"Migaloo is like the rock star for the ocean world because he's showing that we should care about the ocean. But also remembering that because he's so famous we need to be aware of our actions on the water," Dr. Pirotta added.

Seems like Australia reigns up top when it comes to rare sea life! 

Story via DailyMail

A couple of friends from San Diego got a super rare treat while out on a fishing expedition. While traveling at a high rate of speed, they suddenly happened upon an pod of Orcas about half a mile off the bow. Then, one of the Orcas split off from the pod, and burst from the water right beside the boat. The Orca would continue to follow them for around 10 minutes, having thoroughly shocked and soaked them with its first appearance. It was so close to the boat that they said they could have reached out and touched it while it leaped out of the water.

The crew took advantage of the ample selfie and video opportunities. They said the fishing trip may have been a dud, but it was worth it for the Orcas and an "awesome day on the water". But if you thought this was an amazing case, this encounter with a young white killer whale was truly a rare sight to behold.

The beluga whale was discovered by fishermen off the island of Ingøya in Norway and It is believed that the whale escaped a Russian naval base in the region. Inside the harness, which has now been removed from the whale, was a Go-Pro camera with the words "Equipment of St. Petersburg". Marine experts believe the whale was trained by the Russian navy as part of a programme to use underwater mammals as a special ops force. The fisherman said the whale was very tame and seemed used to human beings: "We were going to put out nets when we saw a whale swimming between the boats," fisherman Joar Hesten told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "It came over to us, and as it approached, we saw that it had some sort of harness on it."

We have found this twitter pagefilled with whale facts and since we couldn't stop laughing, we thought - why not spread it on to you too?  

While the Amazon Rainforest is home to one of the largest biodiversities on the planet, that doesn't typically include whales. In Northern Brazil, a beached whale has appeared and scientists are scurrying to find out how exactly. 

Story originally found on IFLScience.

Researchers say that a dead sperm whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had nearly 6 kg (13 lbs) of plastic waste in its stomach, including bags, bottles, flip-flops, cups and more than 1,000 other pieces of assorted plastic. This story is a wake up call to all of us.  

Look there in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a 20-tonne humpback whale surprising tourists just a few metres from their boat in Sydney's Bondi Beach! Via: Sharebly

People Were Surprised to Find This Giant Whale on The Banks of The Seine River in Paris