OMEN
08-18-2008, 05:12 PM
A baby whale lost at sea in Australia has bonded with a makeshift mum - an 11-metre-long yacht.
Rescuers say the calf has mistaken the boat for its mother and has been swimming around it near Sydney's northern beaches, nuzzling and trying to suckle the vessel.
The National Parks and Wildlife has stepped in and towed the "mother substitute" yacht away from the harbour, reports National Nine News.
"We've successfully enticed the calf to deeper waters between Broken Bay and West Head, Barrenjoey," said regional manager Chris McIntosh.
"Over the next little while, we'll experiment to try to separate it from the yacht."
But the whale appears to be exhausted and Mr McIntosh said the outlook wasn't good. "There is a slim chance it might move out to sea... but we can't predict exactly what might happen."
"It is only one to two months old and would not have been weaned yet from its mother. It can't be fed, and in fact we wouldn't know what to feed it."
Helicopters in the area are on the lookout for the calf's mother or another pod of whales for it to hopefully hook up with.
Nova
Rescuers say the calf has mistaken the boat for its mother and has been swimming around it near Sydney's northern beaches, nuzzling and trying to suckle the vessel.
The National Parks and Wildlife has stepped in and towed the "mother substitute" yacht away from the harbour, reports National Nine News.
"We've successfully enticed the calf to deeper waters between Broken Bay and West Head, Barrenjoey," said regional manager Chris McIntosh.
"Over the next little while, we'll experiment to try to separate it from the yacht."
But the whale appears to be exhausted and Mr McIntosh said the outlook wasn't good. "There is a slim chance it might move out to sea... but we can't predict exactly what might happen."
"It is only one to two months old and would not have been weaned yet from its mother. It can't be fed, and in fact we wouldn't know what to feed it."
Helicopters in the area are on the lookout for the calf's mother or another pod of whales for it to hopefully hook up with.
Nova