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| Pygmy right whale Caperea marginata washes up in Namibia |
A Close Encounter With the World's Smallest baleen whales
The rough road through the salt pans, lined with greater and lesser flamingos, glossy white pelicans and scurrying speckled waders, led us to the salt works’ pump station. A good 50 metres and more from the waters edge lay a long, thin creature, bedecked in a patchwork jacket of red, purple, black and white that seemed ironically jaunty and carefree. Beneath the soaked rags that provided protection from the sun and drying wind, lay a forlorn pygmy right whale, the world’s smallest baleen whale.
