Gray Whale Breaks Migration Record

A female western gray whale named Vavara has set a new record for longest known migration for a mammal by swimming from Russia to Mexico and back again (a total of 13,988 miles) in 172 days, according to researchers. Up until now, the record for longest-migrating mammal had belonged to the humpback whale, which swims up to 10,190 miles between breeding grounds near the equator and feeding grounds near the Arctic and Antarctic. Researchers tracked Vavara’s journey with a satellite-monitoring tag.