Glo  # 0413

Glo is commonly seen around Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.  She has been feeding around here since 1984.  Since that time she has given birth to at least four calves.  There are no known grandcalves for Glo right now (See Glo's Family Tree).

Until recently, Glo had a stunningly beautiful, all black fluke.  In 1998 Glo was very late to show up on the bank.  She finally showed up in August with a new calf, later named Banyan.  Sometime in the months after giving birth to Banyan, she was involved in an entanglement or a ship strike and lost half of her left fluke.  When she was first sighted in 1998 the fluke was beginning to heal yet the wound was still pink meaning it was fairly fresh.  When a whale is inflicted with such a massive wound it is unknown what the final outcome will be.  As in humans the first 24-48 hours are the most critical.  If the whale survives this recovery period, there is a good chance for survival.  A good example of this is a whale named Silver.  She was first seen in 1979 missing most of her right fluke.  The wound had completely healed at that time and she thrived, giving birth to five calves until her death in 1991 of an unrelated entanglement. Unfortunately sometimes an infection can set in which can be fatal.  In 1981 a whale named Venus was involved in an incident which resulted in the loss of  much of her left fluke.  In a little over a year the tail slowly deteriorated until nothing was left.  She has not been seen since that last sighting in 1982.  It is presumed that gangrene caused decomposition of the fluke which probably killed her.  

It is now a waiting game for researchers.  All that can be done is keep an eye out for new sighting.  Glo was seen in 1999.  Her wound did not look any worse.  She was actively feeding and appeared to have recovered from her misfortunes.

 

Glo's Family Tree
Glo- F --- fs: 1984	Amulet yob: 1987 Sprout yob: 1990 Puffer yob: 1996 Banyon yob: 1998