"Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:36 GMT

The whale was spotted by tourists and boaters
A large whale has been spotted in the River Thames in central London by boaters and
sightseers.

The mammal, thought to be a pilot whale which can grow to 20ft, was seen swimming
past the Houses of Parliament."

More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm
-- 
Nick in Northallerton
Also @ www.whelan.me.uk
And nickw7coc on
Yahoo & MSN
but I use http://www.trillian.cc as I like it better
also on Skype and Google talk

Phenomenal news.  Being Scottish, I forget that the Thames is significantly 
cleaner than a decade or so ago...
"Nick" <n_rw-7@no-go.ya_ho.o.aw_ay.con.invalid> wrote in message 
news:jio1t1h2q7883h55h3g41uhh9v85vndr3p@4ax.com...
> "Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:36 GMT
>
> The whale was spotted by tourists and boaters
> A large whale has been spotted in the River Thames in central London by 
> boaters and
> sightseers.
>
> The mammal, thought to be a pilot whale which can grow to 20ft, was seen 
> swimming
> past the Houses of Parliament."
>
> More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm
> -- 
> Nick in Northallerton
> Also @ www.whelan.me.uk
> And nickw7coc on
> Yahoo & MSN
> but I use http://www.trillian.cc as I like it better
> also on Skype and Google talk

- And on Fri, 20 Jan 2006 13:20:36 +0000 (UTC), it was spake thus <dqqo34$c4i$1@nwrdmz01.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com> said in message "Faircloughs" :

> Phenomenal news.  Being Scottish, I forget that the Thames is significantly 
> cleaner than a decade or so ago...
> >
> > More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm

I'm quite sure you'll have seen something about it on the news now, but sadly it
doesn't look good, take a look at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4633376.stm where there's some video and
photo links...
-- 
Nick in Northallerton
Also @ www.whelan.me.uk
And nickw7coc on
Yahoo & MSN
but I use http://www.trillian.cc as I like it better
also on Skype and Google talk

Nick wiffled:
> "Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:36 GMT
>
> The whale was spotted by tourists and boaters
> A large whale has been spotted in the River Thames in central London by
> boaters and sightseers.
>
> The mammal, thought to be a pilot whale which can grow to 20ft, was seen
> swimming past the Houses of Parliament."
>
> More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm

I've always thought that whales are incredibly stupid things, despite what
those who know say. Not this particular one, though it does seem to have
chosen a remarkably public place to die, but generally. When whaling
started, all they had to do was charge the boat and it would have crumbled
to matchsticks. The industry would never have got off the ground, and the
Japanese wouldn't be making scientific suchi from them now.

Triffid wrote:
> I've always thought that whales are incredibly stupid things, despite what
> those who know say. Not this particular one, though it does seem to have
> chosen a remarkably public place to die, but generally. When whaling
> started, all they had to do was charge the boat and it would have crumbled
> to matchsticks. The industry would never have got off the ground, and the
> Japanese wouldn't be making scientific suchi from them now.

And you would know, being composed of a ton of blubber yourself.

BTW, it's spelled sushi......

Spitbank Roast wiffled:
> Triffid wrote:
>> I've always thought that whales are incredibly stupid things, despite
>> what those who know say. Not this particular one, though it does seem to
>> have chosen a remarkably public place to die, but generally. When whaling
>> started, all they had to do was charge the boat and it would have
>> crumbled to matchsticks. The industry would never have got off the
>> ground, and the Japanese wouldn't be making scientific suchi from them
>> now.
>
> And you would know, being composed of a ton of blubber yourself.
>
> BTW, it's spelled sushi......

Nothing like a well considered argument. And that was..

Nick<n_rw-7@no-go.ya_ho.o.aw_ay.con.invalid> wrote on Friday 20 Jan 2006
1:15 pm:

> "Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:36 GMT
> 
> The whale was spotted by tourists and boaters
> A large whale has been spotted in the River Thames in central London by
> boaters and sightseers.
> 
> The mammal, thought to be a pilot whale which can grow to 20ft, was seen
> swimming past the Houses of Parliament."
> 
> More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm
No-one seems to have pointed out that it was a
northern bottlenose whale. Regrettably it died while
being carried back to the sea on a barge.
-- 
Edwin Hutton (use edDOThuttonATlsaevaPOINTuklinuxSTOPnet for email)
....Grant we beseech Thee that, ... during our journeys through the
Internet we will ... treat with charity and patience all those souls
whom we encounter. Amen.From <http://www.catholic.org/isidore>

e.hutton wrote:  7797425.uNd572aOhS@localhost,
 
> Nick<n_rw-7@no-go.ya_ho.o.aw_ay.con.invalid> wrote on Friday 20 Jan
> 2006 1:15 pm:
> 
>> "Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:36 GMT
>> 
>> The whale was spotted by tourists and boaters
>> A large whale has been spotted in the River Thames in central London
>> by boaters and sightseers.
>> 
>> The mammal, thought to be a pilot whale which can grow to 20ft, was
>> seen swimming past the Houses of Parliament."
>> 
>> More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm

> No-one seems to have pointed out that it was a
> northern bottlenose whale. Regrettably it died while
> being carried back to the sea on a barge.


See Hyperoodon ampullatus on the excelent
CMS- Whales & Dolphins website
http://tinyurl.com/awkdx

-- 
p.a.

If you are down near the Thames, look at the lamp-posts. In some places
they have figures of dolphins on them. However, now I think they look
more like pilot whales. I always thought they were funny looking
dolphins, the head too bulbous, too beaky and a body too sinuous.

Perhaps many years ago another pilot whale was seen in the Thames.
Perhaps there is some kind of folk memory. People then would not have
known the difference between dolphins and pilot whales. Perhaps there
is some kind of tendency for pilot whales to get lost occasionally.

Craven wrote:
> "Nick" <n_rw-7@no-go.ya_ho.o.aw_ay.con.invalid> wrote in message
> news:jio1t1h2q7883h55h3g41uhh9v85vndr3p@4ax.com...
> > "Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:36 GMT
> >
> > The whale was spotted by tourists and boaters
> > A large whale has been spotted in the River Thames in central London by
> > boaters and
> > sightseers.
> >
> > The mammal, thought to be a pilot whale which can grow to 20ft, was seen
> > swimming
> > past the Houses of Parliament."
>
>
> "A post-mortem examination on the whale which became stranded in the River
> Thames showed it died from dehydration, muscle damage and failing kidneys.
>
> The preliminary findings also showed it had been unable to feed for three
> days. "
>
> I find that last paragraph a bit odd! I thought a bottleneck can go at least
> 3 weeks without food! How the hell do they know? Maybe it was 3 days since
> it fed.
> 
> Craven

hazchem@lycos.co.uk wrote:
> Perhaps there
> is some kind of tendency for pilot whales to get lost occasionally.


Ah, and the name arises because they *need* pilots rather than behaving like 
them? ;-)

Mike.
-- 
If reply address = connectfee, add an r because it is free not fee.

"Nick" <n_rw-7@no-go.ya_ho.o.aw_ay.con.invalid> wrote in message 
news:jio1t1h2q7883h55h3g41uhh9v85vndr3p@4ax.com...
> "Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:36 GMT
>
> The whale was spotted by tourists and boaters
> A large whale has been spotted in the River Thames in central London by 
> boaters and
> sightseers.
>
> The mammal, thought to be a pilot whale which can grow to 20ft, was seen 
> swimming
> past the Houses of Parliament."


"A post-mortem examination on the whale which became stranded in the River 
Thames showed it died from dehydration, muscle damage and failing kidneys.

The preliminary findings also showed it had been unable to feed for three 
days. "

I find that last paragraph a bit odd! I thought a bottleneck can go at least 
3 weeks without food! How the hell do they know? Maybe it was 3 days since 
it fed.

Craven

Mike Coon wrote:
> hazchem@lycos.co.uk wrote:
> > Perhaps there
> > is some kind of tendency for pilot whales to get lost occasionally.
>
>
> Ah, and the name arises because they *need* pilots rather than behaving like
> them? ;-)
>
> Mike.
> --
> If reply address = connectfee, add an r because it is free not fee.

I called it Moby Dick Head