The humpback whale is making the longest voyage ever recorded, scientists say

A male humpback whale has made the longest and most unusual voyage in the species’ history, an anomaly scientists say may be linked to climate change.

The whale was first spotted in northwestern Colombian waters in July 2013, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science about the creature’s movements and how to describe them. The authors say the same whale was spotted again four years later, somewhere off the coast of Colombia about 50 miles from where it was first spotted.

A third unexpected encounter with a humpback occurred in August 2022, when it was seen in eastern Africa at a station between Zanzibar and the country of Tanzania. The whale would have had to cross many oceans and travel more than 8,000 kilometers from the Colombian Pacific to get there, and experts believe it was trying to find a mate or food. The whale’s long journey set a record for the longest known migration between breeding grounds.

The sightings were tracked with photos submitted by citizen scientists to happywhale.com, where marine enthusiasts, researchers and other experts chart the locations and movements of whales around the world.

Although humpbacks are among several species of whales known to migrate unusually long distances each year to pursue food sources in colder waters and spawn in warmer oceans, the study’s authors called the humpback’s behavior “atypical.” The whale’s battle dwarfed even the longest journey reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, noting in a description of the whales shared on its site that some populations are known to migrate up to 5,000 kilometers in a single year.

The study says the long-distance movement was unusual “and raises the question of what its drivers are, which could include but are not limited to mating strategies.”

The whale’s penchant for exploring unexpected and remote areas may have been caused by climate change-induced environmental changes, the authors said. Factors such as higher ocean temperatures affect marine life around the world and can similarly affect the distribution of krill in certain areas, which may affect the feeding grounds of humpbacks such as the long-distance traveler.

Their study noted that more research is needed to draw any conclusions about the whale’s migration pattern.

“On the other hand, population growth may be the driver of these breeding changes, where animals may need to explore new breeding and/or feeding areas due to competition from larger, stronger males in both areas,” the authors wrote. “The exact reason or drivers for this shift in breeding habitat can only be speculated due to the limited current data available on the humpback whale’s behavioral ecology.”

CBS News reached out to one of the study’s authors for comment but did not immediately receive a response.