A world-first ultrasound and chance sightings of potential mating rituals could help in the urgent work to save these gentle giants from extinction
Covered in polka dots and stretching the length of a single-decker bus, the gentle giant barrelled towards them. The team of scientists, ready with a 17kg waterproof ultrasound machine they had lugged to one of the world’s most isolated dives sites, waited for the whale shark.
Months of preparation had gone into the encounter, expected to last between 30 and 45 seconds. Aided into position by a propeller mounted on his air tank, one scientist glided underneath the hulking animal as it swam by, raking a handheld probe across her distended belly – yielding the world’s first ultrasound of a wild whale shark.
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