These rare whales had never been seen alive. Then a team in Mexico sighted two

The search for a gingko-toothed beaked whale had taken five years, when a thieving albatross nearly ruined it allIt was an early morning in June 2024 and along the coast of Baja California in Mexico, scientists on the Pacific Storm research vessel were finishing their coffee and preparing for a long day searching for some of the most elusive creatures on the planet. Suddenly a call came from the bridge: "Whales! Starboard side!"For the next few hours, what looked like a couple of juvenile beaked whales kept surfacing and disappearing until finally Robert Pitman, a now-retired researcher at Oregon State University, fired a small arrow from a modified crossbow at the back of one of them. Continue reading...