Last Saturday, near Cullera beach in Valencia, Spain, a boat slowly sailed past a sea of blue water.
The captain stood on the deck and admired the sea around him, the sun was shining, there was no wind or waves, everything seemed so peaceful and beautiful.
Until he looked not far away and saw a huge whale gradually emerging above the sea...
For year-round sailors, seeing whales is certainly not unusual.
But what made the captain's heart tense was that the whale was obviously struggling, as if it was entangled in something, and the swimming posture was also very strange.
Seeing this, the captain immediately returned to the interior of the cabin and called the rescue phone. The report found a whale suspected to be entangled in a fishing net near the Kullera lighthouse, and requested that someone be sent to rescue it as soon as possible.
Rescuers immediately arrived at the scene, only to find that the problem was far more difficult than they thought...
Swimming in front of them was a fin whale about 55 feet long and weighing 40 tons.
This big guy is the second largest whale in the world, after the blue whale.
And the one in front of him, the body has been folded into a terrifying "V" shape, almost broken by the waist.
Ensuring that the behemoth was not alarmed, the rescue team approached slowly.
They first observed the body of the fin whale and examined its surroundings, however, they did not find any foreign objects bound to it.
After taking a closer look at its limb anatomy, marine foundation biologists and veterinarians came to a rare conclusion —
The whale wasn't entangled in anything, and the real problem was that it had severe spinal deformation.
This level of reasoning means that it can't swim properly at all.
However, what causes its scoliosis is a mystery.
First rule out the option of being born with a disability.
According to a 2021 study published in the journal Nature, whales, marine mammals, do not naturally develop scoliosis.
Although the phenomenon of scoliosis in whales has indeed occurred. But in the relevant reports that have been reported, every case has a clear external cause.
And one of the main reasons is trauma.
In other words, the whale may have been hit by a boat or something else before it became like this.
(Schematic)
This is reminiscent of a case from 2019.
On a beach in the Netherlands, a whale cub washed up on the coast. When people found it, it was already dead.
In appearance, the baby whale also showed obvious scoliosis.
Since there were not many opportunities to study scoliosis in whales, a multidisciplinary team of biologists, pathologists, veterinarians, taxidermists, radiologists and plastic surgeons was immediately formed and autopsy and imaging analysis of the baby whale.
Ultimately, the autopsy showed that the whale developed scoliosis because it had been traumatized early, which further led to fractures and deformities in the lumbar spine.
The scholars then explained that this scoliosis caused by traumatic accidents often causes whales' heads and tails to not be in a straight line, seriously hindering their swimming and other activities.
This will undoubtedly cause considerable distress to the survival of whales.
(The picture shows the autopsy image at that time)
However, because the fin whale is still living normally in the sea this time, the relevant personnel cannot study its body, let alone dissect it, and there is no way to know the real cause of its spinal deformation.
Similarly, it is not known how weak its body is in this case, and how long it can last.
The unknown prevented the rescue team from doing more to help, let alone restore it to its normal form.
In this regard, rescuers are also entangled:
Do you want to help it? And how can I help?
Biologists from the local marine foundation have proposed that a tracking device could be implanted in the whale's body to obtain detailed data on its physiology and trajectory.
However, given the whale's deformed body and the sheer size of the high seas, this approach is clearly impractical.
For a while, the rescue once again reached an impasse.
At the same time, netizens also launched a heated discussion.
Everyone first rushed to guess the real cause of the whale's injury:
"I have a small fish tank with all kinds of freshwater fish. Once when I was feeding them, a slow-moving fish went to grab food, and at the same time, another fast-moving fish swam to eat another piece of food, but accidentally bumped into the previous slower fish and hit it right in the middle of its body, resulting in a semicircle. The fish never 'straight' back. Could it be that this whale was also hit by another whale? ”
"Maybe it was still growing and getting tangled in plastic, causing the spine to bend. And then when it grows big enough, the plastic is squeezed out by it...? ”
"It's not scoliosis, this whale is struggling to swim and close to the shore, and obviously this is a new injury to it, and it won't live long at all." The rescue team even suggested installing a tracking device on an already painful mammal, which is completely crazy, what is wrong with the world. ”
After that, netizens put forward different views on "whether humans should intervene":
"The whale should be sedative, then taken to the aquarium and had the veterinarian perform spinal surgery on it. Then place it in a huge area until it heals and then release it back into the sea. ”
"It's really sad for those who hear it, and heartbreak for those who see it. But if this life does not suffer pain, it should not be disturbed and allowed to live a peaceful life. Of course, if it is suffering, we should naturally try to help it, but if not, I want it to live as well as possible. ”
In the end, the rescue team decided to let it continue to live like this without too much interference.
So, a few hours after the encounter with humans, the fin whale once again moved away from the shore and slowly swam towards the blue sea.
However, some wildlife conservation organizations have judged that because the whale is currently moving slowly, it is likely to encounter humans again in the next few days.
As for the most important concern of everyone, how long it will live in the future, it is impossible to predict.
However, it may not be impossible to work miracles.
On September 7, 2022, off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, researchers spotted for the first time a female humpback whale also suffering from scoliosis.
Its lower body is heavily skewed, even forming a twisted "S" shape, which is expected to extend from the dorsal fin to the caudal fin.
They later learned that the whale's nickname was "Moon." Researchers at the Pacific Whale Foundation have been following it for a decade.
Moon's body is thought to have twisted after a ship struck. This also shows that it is likely to endure severe pain for a long time.
Scientists had hoped to euthanize Moo as a way to end his suffering once and for all. But it is also concerned that the toxic substances in the drug may poison other marine organisms that feed on its remains.
"If Moon is on land, we can intervene. But because it's in the sea, and given its size, there's not much we can do. ”
"It only makes you feel more heartbroken."
However, although his body has been extremely twisted, the tenacious Moon was unable to push himself with his tail, and he relied on breaststroke to catch 3,000 miles to complete the annual migration from Canada to Hawaii.
Researchers say it has followed the same route every year for the past decade, swimming strongly into warmer waters again and again.
This miracle of life touched almost all netizens:
"What an amazing determination and perseverance. But it's also sad. Whales are truly great creatures. ”
But at the same time, it is also heartbreaking.
Because the photos show that these long journeys have made Moon extremely emaciated, and his body is covered with whale lice.
That impact still caused irreparable damage.
What is even more unbearable is that Moon or the fin whales mentioned at the beginning of the article are not exceptional.
Up to 20,000 whales die each year in fatal collisions with ships.
Due to the size and living environment of whales, the damage caused by humans cannot be recovered by humans.
They can only endure severe pain alone, and one day sink to the bottom of the sea...