Rare conjoined whales wash up in Baja, California lagoon

2014-01-08 208

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

STORY: A pair of apparently conjoined whale calves have been found dead off the coast in Mexico, in what scientists described as "without precedence" in the region.

The whales - which washed up on January 5 - weighed about half a tonne and measured 4 meters (13 feet) long and were linked at the mid-section.

A marine biologist from the National Natural Protected Areas Commission told Reuters conjoined whales or "siamese" whales have never been logged before in Mexico.

It would have been virtually impossible for the whales to survive, indicating they were probably born prematurely or stillborn, scientists added.

This video of the gray whales, with two visible heads and two tails, was taken by Krystian Abundez in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, which leads into the Pacific Ocean along the Baja California peninsula, an important breeding ground for gray whales.

Scientists who found the whales told Reuters the creature was fe

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