Experts follow rare whale through little-known route down Pacific coast

AM980: Experts follow rare whale through little-known route down Pacific coast

VANCOUVER - An extremely rare Western Pacific gray whale has been tracked on a little-known migration route from the waters off Russia to the Pacific Ocean south of British Columbia.

The surprising migration route of the 13-year-old male whale is giving scientists a look into where the creatures may go to breed and birth their calves.

The work, which is a collaboration between U.S. and Russian researchers, began last October when a satellite tracking device was attached to the whale, named Flex.

Bruce Mate, the director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, says the whale's trip raises the prospect that these rare mammals could be the northern-most feeders from the Eastern North Pacific whale population.

The Eastern Pacific whale population has rebounded to about 20 thousand, while there are just 130 of its Western cousins.

But Mate said they won't draw any conclusions from the route of just one whale and plan to go back later this year in hopes of attaching tracking devices to another dozen whales.