Fears grow for starving Wally the whale, lost in the Mediterranean

‘We have not seen him eat since we started tracking him,’ expert says

A scientist takes a skin sample of Wally, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea past the coast of Argeles-Sur-Mer in France (REUTERS)

Fears are growing for a young whale lost in the Mediterranean sea, with scientists worried it may not survive.

Wally, a young grey whale, is unable to find the invertebrates - found in the depths of the Pacific ocean - that usually make up his diet.

His normal habitat sits thousands of miles away from where he has now wound up.

Wally - who is around two years old and eight metres long - is now trying to find his way home after ending up in the Mediterranean sea.

Biologists think he became lost and swam into the Atlantic ocean via the Arctic as a result of global warming opening northern routes.

It is the second time in history scientists have recorded a grey whale in the Mediterrannean - although an expert has predicted the climate crisis may make this a more common occurrence.

Eric Hansen, the head of the state biodiversity agency in southern France, said: "We will probably see this more often because of climate change, which not only opened the northern route but is also changing ocean currents because of the melting of the ice caps.”

Grey whales normally migrate along the US west coast, with the last sighting of one in the Mediterranean more than 10 years ago.

Mr Hansen said Wally’s rapid weight loss has sparked concern.

"We are very worried about his future, as his fat, which is his fuel to travel, has gone down a lot. He is exhausted and just skin over bones,” the France-based expert said.

“We have not seen him eat since we started tracking him.”

Wally entered the Mediterranean through the Gibraltar Strait and followed the Moroccan coast before cutting across to Italian shores and arriving in France, Hansen said.

Moving about 80 to 90km a day, the young whale is closely following France’s southern shores and is now approaching the Spanish coast.

"It is trying to enter harbours, as if to find a way out. Its strategy should work and we hope it can make its way back to Gibraltar in about a week," Mr Hansen said.

A few days ago, Wally got caught in a fishing net off the Camargue coast but managed to free himself. But he is set to encounter more obstacles, notably the heavy shipping traffic in the Gibraltar Strait.

Wally’s appearance in the Mediterranean comes just weeks after a great white shark made a surprise move east across the Atlantic.

Scientists said the 17ft female shark - named Nukumi - was pregnant and could have been searching for somewhere to give birth away from male aggressors.

Additional reporting by Reuters