{"id":1094473,"date":"2026-07-17T08:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1094473\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T08:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:12:21","slug":"true-friendship-shown-as-dolphins-guide-stranded-whale-out-of-wa-estuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1094473\/","title":{"rendered":"True friendship shown as dolphins guide stranded whale out of WA estuary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marine researchers are celebrating after a juvenile southern right whale made its way back into the ocean after being stranded in the Peel-Harvey Estuary for more than two weeks.<\/p>\n

The endangered whale measured 10.6 metres long and about 1.8 metres deep, making it difficult to swim through the estuary’s shallow waters.<\/p>\n

Locals kept a close eye on the whale, affectionately dubbed by some as ‘Gail the Whale’, for almost three weeks.<\/p>\n

The whale managed to enter deeper waters on Thursday afternoon with the assistance of a helpful pod of dolphins, according to onlookers.<\/p>\n

“When the whale got across the sandbar, it appears a pod of coastal dolphins has turned up and possibly may have led it back out to safety,” Geographe Marine Research director Rodney Peterson said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The juvenile whale was stranded in the estuary for more than two weeks. (Supplied: Callum Craig)<\/p>\n

Return to the big blue<\/p>\n

Mr Peterson said the whale needed a combination of factors for it to successfully make its way to the open ocean.<\/p>\n

“Yesterday on a high tide with a falling barometer as well, it was able to swim across that sandy section and make its way into the cut, and after a couple of failed attempts it finally swam free,” he said.<\/p>\n

The gentle giant entered the estuary on June 28, and couldn’t find its way back out.<\/p>\n

Mr Peterson said there were concerns about how long the animal could have survived in the estuary.<\/p>\n

“It’s just not it’s normal environment and the longer it was in there, the less chance it would have of getting back to where it needed to be,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

It is not known what caused the young whale to make its way into the estuary, but Mr Peterson said there were a number of theories.<\/p>\n

“We’ll probably never know, but probably the best thing is that the whales are curious,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Being a huge tide, it hasn’t recognised that it’s a dangerous area for it to be in and it’s wandered in there and the tide’s gone out.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During its time in the estuary, the whale mingled with the local dolphin population, and onlookers believed dolphins helped to guide the animal into deeper waters yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Friendly phenomena<\/p>\n

Emily Ehlers from Dolphin Discovery Centre has observed dolphin pods guiding whales out of shallow waters before.<\/p>\n

She said last year a humpback whale found itself stranded in Koombana Bay in Bunbury, 170 kilometres south of Perth.<\/p>\n

“We also observed the same behaviour where they kind of have a formation about them,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They try to guide the whale with vocalisations and all sorts.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty amazing.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emily Ehlers says dolphins guiding whales into deeper waters is a known phenomena. (ABC South West: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

Ms Ehlers said the cooperative nature of dolphins meant they were often observed engaging with whales.<\/p>\n

“You see [whales] turn, and they expose their belly, so they kind of invite the dolphins to play,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The dolphins ride along the bow of the whale as they’re moving through the water.<\/p>\n

“It’s just a really beautiful interaction to observe.”<\/p>\n

Ms Ehlers said relationships between the two species were not always playful.<\/p>\n

“It is open to interpretation, so some of it can be competitive and territorial,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A pod of dolphins surrounding a young southern right whale. (Supplied: Callum Craig)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions said if the whale re-enters the waterway, there was less concern for its safety.<\/p>\n

“It has demonstrated that it can pass safely between the estuary and the ocean through the cut,” they said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marine researchers are celebrating after a juvenile southern right whale made its way back into the ocean after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1094474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3847],"tags":[71812,298821,17170,298820,298819,298822,70,105380,16,15,29592,1717],"class_list":["post-1094473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-dbca","tag-dolphin-discovery-centre","tag-dolphins","tag-geographe-marine-research","tag-harvey-estuary","tag-peel-harvey-estuary","tag-science","tag-southern-right-whale","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wa-news","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116934315017158394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1094473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1094474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1094473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1094473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1094473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}