Down near the Bahamas, a bizarre story is unfolding as two critically-endangered North Atlantic right whales continue a rebellious streak.<\/p>\n
Maybe they\u2019re fans of Bob Dylan or The Ramones, but the whales, named Curlew and Koala, have spent the last few months cruising down from the Mid-Atlantic coast to the tropical Caribbean seas, something described as a \u201conce in a lifetime\u201d event.<\/p>\n
The sighting of the whales was made by a dolphin watching tour in Florida near Bimini, about 50 miles off the coast. The ship\u2019s captain admitted it was something he had never seen before, and thought the whales were fake at first.<\/p>\n
Right whales are extremely rare vagrants in the Gulf of Mexico, and there has never been a North Atlantic right whale sighting in Bahamian seas, where the pair are currently located. Typically this time of year sees these giant baleens going in the exact opposite direction\u2014further north.<\/p>\n
Dozens of boats in Massachusetts areas such as Martha\u2019s Vineyard and Broad Sound have been ordered to slow down as dozens of right whales have recently been sighted heading north, a not uncommon migratory pattern that happened last year as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is fairly unusual for right whales to be seen in the Gulf of Mexico, and there are no recorded sightings of right whales in the Bahamas,\u201d senior aquarium scientist at the New England Aquarium, Philip Hamilton, said in a statement. \u201cWhat inspired them to make this journey will likely remain a mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the migratory enigma, CBS News reports that it\u2019s extremely unusual for two right whales to stay together for more than a few days, unless it\u2019s a mother with her calf.<\/p>\n
There are only about 370 North Atlantic right whales left on earth. Extremely intelligent, there are no working hypotheses for why these relatively juvenile whales have paired up and gone so far out of their normal range.<\/p>\n
Vagrancies are, however, fairly normal\u2014especially with the eastern Atlantic population, which can end up in the Mediterranean, and along the coasts of England, Norway, and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything about this sighting is remarkable and exciting,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n