A 65-foot sperm whale survives a 32-hour rescue mission and goes on to swim another day.

It took rescuers 32 hours to return the distressed whale to the water.

This week, a sperm whale that was 65 feet (9 meters) long and stranded on a mud flat close to Ningbo, China, was dragged back to the sea. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images, image credit.)
Last week, a large sperm whale that had become stranded in the shallows close to Ningbo, China, was pulled out to the sea following an exhausting 20-hour rescue.

Yet, the whale’s ultimate fate is likely to remain a mystery. According to Brce Mate, professor emeritus of fisheries, wildlife, and conservation and the former head of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, sperm whale strandings are difficult and animals don’t always survive even if they are rescued.

Mate told Live Science, “Good on them for making a great attempt in trying to send this animal back the sea, but the odds are quite difficult.”

According to U.K. news outlet Sky News, the sperm whale was floundering in the shallows when it was discovered by fishermen on April 19. (opens in new tab). The animal, which was immobile save for its tail, could be seen flapping in a video from China’s official news station.

The 19-meter-long (62-foot) whale was left laying on its side on a mudflat as the tide went out, in risk of suffocating under its own weight or passing away from thirst. According to Mate, one of the biggest threats to a stranded sperm whale is heat. Deep-sea hunters, these whales often hunt for prey in the icy waters more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) below the surface of the ocean. On April 19, the air temperature in Ningbo reached a high of around 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius). Even while that isn’t particularly warm for a human, sperm whales have a different regulation of temperature.