Long story short: no. The washed up specimen turns out to be a younger female and is not Migaloo, who was followed for years via a tracker, but literally disappeared from the radar two years ago.
Experts have determined this on the basis of photos of the carcass. The animal was found on a remote beach on Saturday. Authorities have no plans to remove the carcass yet, but want it to decompose naturally. According to scientists, it is also not a foregone conclusion that the dead animal is a – very rare – albino. It is also possible that this animal was initially darker and contracted a disease, after which the remains became lighter under the influence of the elements.
Migaloo puts on a show. He was last seen two years ago.
ANP / REX by Shutterstock
The well-known albino humpback whale Migaloo, a male of about 15 meters in length, is an outlier among the thousands of humpback whales that swim past Australia. It is known to be the only all-white humpback whale. Migaloo, ‘white friend’, was first spotted in 1991. The last sighting was two years ago. The beast is world famous in Australia. An inflatable model of Migaloo sparkled in 2018 at the opening of the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Migaloo’s inflatable model shone at the Commonwealth Games.
AP