Yahoo News 17 Nov 07
Environmentalists have lost track of a five-meter (27-foot) Minke whale that they had freed from a mudflat where it got stuck in the Amazon jungle's Tapajos River, 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean.
Brazil's Environment and Renewable Natural Resources Institute (Ibama) said Friday it has called off the search for the whale, which they said swam up the Tapajos after entering the Amazon River at Marajo Island.
The whale was spotted by locals beached on a river mudbank and was freed on Wednesday with the help of an Ibama team of biologists, who then followed the mammal for a few hours before it disappeared from view.
An Ibama speedboat and helicopter joined local natives in canoes searching for the whale, which it is feared cannot survive for long out of its natural, salt-water environment.
Minke whale dies in Brazil's Amazon forest
Reuters 21 Nov 07
BRASILIA (Reuters) - A 12-ton whale was found dead in the heart of Brazil's Amazon region, after swimming aimlessly along numerous tributaries, a government biologist said on Tuesday.
The 18-foot (5.5-metre) minke whale was first seen last week on the Tapajos River, a tributary of the Amazon. It swam 1,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, was stranded on sandbanks several times, and freed once by biologists and volunteer rescue workers.
Environmentalists and volunteers had hoped to transport the whale back to sea by ship but local residents spotted its carcass early on Tuesday and alerted authorities.
The dead whale was found two hours by boat from the city of Santarem, Fabia Luna, a biologist working for a government environmental agency told Reuters by telephone.
"We won't know for sure what caused its death until we get back the results from the lab," said Luna, who aided in an autopsy of the whale.
Experts said the whale probably became disoriented among the many river branches that form the broader Amazon.
(Reporting by Raymond Colitt, editing by Patricia Zengerle)
Whale lost in Amazon found dead
BBC News 21 Nov 07
A minke whale that had strayed deep into the Amazon rainforest has been found dead.
The 5.5m (18ft) whale was believed to have become lost in the Amazon's many tributaries after leaving the Atlantic more than 1,600km (1,000 miles) away.
Attempts by conservationists and volunteers to catch the animal and transport it back to sea failed.
Biologists have conducted an autopsy on the minke whale to determine the cause of death.
Beached
The whale was first spotted last week in the Tapajos River, a tributary of the Amazon, where locals reported seeing a mysterious animal in the water.
Experts say that it could have been in the area for up to two months after getting lost on entering the massive river delta.
It had beached itself on sandbanks several times and had been freed once by rescuers.
Local people were seen splashing its back with water to protect it from the Amazonian heat.
On Sunday, biologists and volunteers tried to contain the animal, said to weigh 12 tonnes, in a small area of river before taking it back to sea by boat.
But it broke away from the area and its corpse was spotted on Tuesday by local people who reported it to the authorities.
Experts had earlier said that although whales could survive many months without food, the animal would be disorientated.
Milton Marcondes, a veterinarian with the Brazilian Humpback Whale Institute, which was involved in the rescue attempt, said that the whale would be stressed and could easily become ill.
"We can't forget this animal has been away from its natural habitat for a long time," he told the Associated Press.
