Humpback whale makes record journey of more than 13,000km from South America to Africa

A whale’s tail, or ‘flukeprint’, is as unique and identifiable as a fingerprint and was key to identifying the whale in question.

A humpback whale has journeyed more than 13,000km from South America to Africa, which researchers say is the longest distance ever recorded for an individual whale.

New research published in Royal Society Open Science recorded sightings of a male humpback whale, initially spotted near the coast of Colombia and recorded nearly a decade later near Zanzibar, Africa.