A gray whale has appeared in the Mediterranean off Herzliya in central Israel, embarrassing scientists and researchers who have been confidently pronouncing the species extinct in the Atlantic for years.
According to the experts, the North Atlantic population of gray whale became extinct sometime in the 17th or 18th Century, for reasons that are not clear, though of course over-hunting is generally blamed. The species has not been reliably recorded in the Atlantic since then.
Until this weekend, when one was spotted, and filmed, by many people.