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<H1>Whale watching on the Thames
Friday January 20, 01:20 PM 
Click to enlarge photoA large marine mammal which is swimming up the Thames into central London has been identified as a northern bottle-nosed whale. Richard Sabin, whales and dolphins expert at the Natural History Museum, confirmed the animal was a whale.
It is the first sighting of the species on the Thames since records began in 1913, he said.
The whale was seen swimming past Parliament by boaters and sightseers.
Northern bottle-nosed whales are normally seen in the north Atlantic off Norway and the Barents Sea and off northern Britain and Ireland in the summer.
They have a bulbous forehead and look like a very large bottle-nosed dolphin and usually feed in deep water.
The species can grow to 10 metres in length and is described by experts as "inquisitive", sometimes approaching boats in the north Atlantic.
Alan Knight, of The British Divers Marine Life Rescue group which is on standby to rescue the animal if it beaches, said it was not thought to be fully grown.
They first received reports of the whale making its way up the Thames on Thursday. Liz Sandeman, a marine mammal medic, went out on a boat to examine the whale in a lifeboat. After her close encounter with the creature, she said: "It looks quite healthy and quite relaxed. It's breathing normally and its weight seems good
did ya have to remind me about our elections! lol I think I will sleep with the covers over my head that night! (since it will be daytime where you are...)
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