The world’s rarest whale is captured on film for only the SECOND time in history: a pair of mysterious all-white ‘snake-like’ creatures swim next to a boat in Thailand
- A group of tourists on a charter boat near Phuket spotted the mysterious all-white creature during a trip on New Year’s Day
- They filmed a pair of rare Omura whales swimming together in the Andaman Sea and one of them was completely white
- The footage was shared with officials and environmental protection group ThaiWhales
The world’s rarest whale has been captured on film for only the second time in history, this time off the coast of Thailand.
A group of tourists on a charter boat near Phuket spotted the mysterious all-white creature during a trip on New Year’s Day.
They filmed a pair of rare Omura whales swimming together in the Andaman Sea and one of them was completely white.
The footage was shared with officials and the environmental protection organization ThaiWhales.
The group posted the video to Facebook on January 5, writing that the “groundbreaking report” was a “first of its kind and exciting maritime discovery.”
The world’s rarest whale has been captured on film for only the second time in history, this time off the coast of Thailand
A group of tourists on a charter boat near Phuket spotted the mysterious all-white creature during a trip on New Year’s Day
Footage shows the unique all-white creature swimming past the charter boat as tourists look on in amazement.
“Wow,” you hear someone say. While another says: ‘Oh my god!’
According to Thon Thamrongnawasawat of ThaiWhales, this is the first time an all-white Omura whale has been spotted in Thailand.
The all-white creature was reported to Thailand’s Ministry of Marine and Coastal Resources, which launched a search for the unique animal.
After days of searching, officials said they had not found it, but that they had seen at least four other Omura whales in the area. They were swimming and eating near Phi Phi Islands, Romantic Islands and Coral Islands.
According to experts from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Omura’s whales are the latest species of the mammal to be identified.
They filmed a pair of rare Omura whales swimming together in the Andaman Sea and one of them was completely white
According to Thon Thamrongnawasawat of ThaiWhales, this is the first time that a completely white Omura whale has been spotted in Thailand.
Omuras were first seen as dead corpses in 2003 before being spotted alive for the first time in 2015.
The creatures have long and thin bodies that make them appear ‘snake-like’ and their dorsal fin is ‘small and strongly hooked or curved’.
Omura’s whales also have a single ridge on the front of their heads and can grow up to 40 feet long and weigh as much as 80,000 pounds.
They usually live in tropical and warm seas.
So little is known about Omura’s whales that scientists aren’t sure how many exist and they are still learning about their distribution, population size and possible variations in appearance.