A humpback whale with a broken spine managed to swim 3,000 miles from Canada's west coast to Hawaii by doing the breaststroke

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A humpback whale with a broken spine managed to swim 3,000 miles from Canada's west coast to Hawaii by doing the breaststroke

Moon the humpback whale's spine is bent in an "S" after she was struck by a vessel, and she likely won't survive a return journey, researchers say.

www.insider.com

A humpback whale just finished swimming more than 3,000 miles from Canada's west coast to the Hawaiian island of Maui — with a broken spine.

Moon the humpback whale was spotted in waters near Maui on December 1, according to a post the non-profit research group BC Whales shared on Facebook on Thursday.

Researchers were able to identify the female whale immediately because of her contorted body, likely the result of having been struck by a ship.
Janie Wray, the CEO and lead researcher for BC Whales, told The Guardian that Moon's injury meant the whale had to swim differently to finish her journey.

"Without the use of her tail, she was literally doing the breaststroke to make that migration. It's absolutely amazing," she told the outlet. "But it also just breaks your heart."
Now that Moon has arrived near Hawaii, where humpback whales often migrate in search of tropical waters for their breeding grounds, it's almost certain that she will die there, the non-profit said.

"The harrowing images of her twisted body stirred us all," BC Whales wrote in its post. "She was likely in considerable pain yet she migrated thousands of miles without being able to propel herself with her tail. Her journey left her completely emaciated and covered in whale lice as testament to her severely depreciated condition. "