How did a whale end up in the jungle?

Written By Dr. Jenifer Chatfield

Holy flying whale, Batman!  The last place you would imagine having to look out to avoid tripping over a humpback whale is in the jungle, right?  Well, somehow a whale wound up in the jungles of Brazil!  Now, local experts strongly suspect that the whale was loitering near shore and an aggressive high tide “whooshed” the whale into the jungle and left it there.  That must have been some wave, no?!  If you are thinking to yourself that Brazil sure seems like an odd place for a humpback whale to be loitering this time of year, well, you would be correct.  There are lots of strange things in this story…and it just goes to show you why I recommend you avoid ever saying never or always!


Read the news story in the link below:

Whale found in a Brazilian jungle

Dr. Jenifer Chatfield

Dr. Jenifer Chatfield is the Staff Veterinarian at 4J Conservation Center, an instructor for FEMA/DHS courses, and a Regional Commander for the National Disaster Medicine System Team. She graduated from Texas A&M University's CVM and has pursued emergency medicine and zoo medicine throughout her career. She owned two emergency clinics and has been the Senior Veterinarian in a zoo. She completed fieldwork in Madagascar and South America and continues to explore new areas of medicine as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine for more than 10 years. Dr. Chatfield is a Medical Reserve Corps member and developed the "Veterinary Support to Zoological Animals in a Disaster" for the National Veterinary Response Team’s training curriculum. Dr. Chatfield has chaired the Florida Veterinary Medical Association's (FVMA) One Health Committee and co-chaired FVMA's Disaster Response Committee.

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