Rare All-White Orca Discovered in Russia

04/23/2012

Moby Dick is real. Well, almost. An all-white killer whale, or orca, has been photographed and captured on video in Russian waters off Kamchatka. While Melville's fictional white cetacean was a sperm whale, not an orca, scientific documentation of any such rare and unusual a creature is noteworthy.

The scientists have named the animal Iceberg because his white dorsal fin reminded them of the giant chunks of floating ice towering over the water's surface. The news of this odd whale's existence is sweeping the news today, but he was discovered back in 2010.

CBC News reports:

"Researchers with the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP) revealed on Monday that they succeeded in filming the elusive creature in 2010, but held back on publicizing the rare find until now, as they wanted to study him further.  

They have been looking for Iceberg ever since.

The possibly albino mammal is believed to be the first one ever observed in the wild. He was observed in the North Pacific, east of the Kamchatka Peninsula near the Commander Islands, according to a release on Monday."

Here's some video footage of this extraordinary animal.

Learn more about Killer Whales:

• FACTS: Learn about killer whales
• VIDEO: Filming curious orcas
• VIDEO: Orcas hunting seal
• ODDITY: Killer whale mimicks boat
• EXPERT: Chat with Peter Gros

 

Comments

[Shoni]

They aren't hunting this, are they? My husband, who is quite the prankster, said, "yeah, I saw that on the news yesterday, the Russians are hunting it for some rare russian perfume or something" but he giggled after he said it, so I'm hoping it's a joke.

[Karan]

unfortunately they are hunting it for an for a perfume line called Ruskie, which is to be sold at ridiculous prices in the US

[Pooka]

You have a rare animal, some idiot's going to hunt it. That's the way humans seem to work. Especially if there's only the one out there.

[Hannah]

It will be quite sad if Iceberg is hunted and killed. Such a beautiful creature