Did A Humpback Whale Almost Make It To The Great Lakes This Week?

Meanwhile - in Canada: For almost two weeks, an adult humpback whale was seen swimming in the St. Lawrence River, near downtown Montreal's Old Port. Only about 180 miles downriver from Lake Ontario. Sadly, this whale was found dead on Tuesday, 19 miles downriver from Montreal.

According to MLive.com, this was the first time a humpback whale had made it this far down the St. Lawrence River. Just to get that far was an impressive feat. To get from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River to Montreal's Old Port, is a distance of about 500 miles. And that's while swimming against the current. The Great Lakes connect to the Atlantic by flowing west to east, emptying from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, through the Niagara River, over the Niagara Falls and then into the St. Lawrence River.

So, while this whale almost made it to Lake Ontario, it probably would not have made it into Lake Erie or Lake St. Clair or Lake Huron due to the difficulties of a humpback whale getting into the Niagara River by scaling one of the Niagara Falls. Sharks? That might be different, because - "Sharknado". What killed the whale? Swimming in fresh water might've killed through dehydration, of all things.

And now, what are we left with? Someone in Canada has the job of getting rid of a 30-ton, dead, humpback whale. Good luck on that.

Here's the story.